Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Here is a rare instance of media whose modest footprint is matched only by its decidedly immodest amount of fun, and this goes doubly for those who enjoy the English language.

I played the game in two different scenarios with varied results: once in my normal state and once after returning home slightly inebriated. In my lucid frame of mind, I crowned myself the Vocab King, coaxing gems like “motility” from the grid and, in one deliciously ironic moment, vanquishing the everloving shit out of a foul she-beast by spelling “palliate.” There was a slow-mo close-up and everything.

When I fired up the game later that evening, this time with a pleasant buzz, wordsmithery became much easier, though the results were also simpler. “Motility” was replaced with “laminated,” which I guess was okay, and the ironic gave way to the iconic when I slew Medusa with the word “weaponry.” The jury’s still out on which scenario was better, so further testing may be necessary.