Next week we’re trying something a little different over here at Wordia headquarters. We’re partnering with leading literature website, East of the Web on an exciting online project that explores the connections between words through story and video.
We’re looking for very short flash fiction stories, no longer than 500 words, that incorporate the following seven words:
REFUSE
CASE
LIGHT
WOUND
FAST
ROW
NOTE
Each short story should centre on ONE of these words – e.g. if you choose ‘note’, the story might be about a note that is written by one of the characters.
But as an extra, intriguing twist, ALL SIX of the other words should be used in some form, somewhere in rest of the text – e.g. the story about the note must also include the words: refuse, case, light, wound, fast and row, in some form (i.e. refused or fasting are acceptable).
Your submission can be any genre or style – in fact, we’re looking for interesting uses of the words!
Successful pieces will be featured at East of the Web and Wordia. The Wordia team have asked seven leading authors to debate and explore the meaning of one of these words, published as Word of the Day over ‘Flash Fiction Week’!
Wordia is about shared perspectives of language, so why not explore and add your own take on what one of these words means? We looking forward to seeing the results (and perspectives!)
Today, I’m very proud to say that we’ve reached our first birthday!
As you might well know/remember, Wordia was launched this time last year from Dr. Johnson’s house, in the City of London.
Today it’s not only Wordia’s first birthday, it’s Dr. Johnson’s tercentenary! 300 years to the day that the pre-eminent English scholar was born (1709!). Birthday celebrations all round! [popping of corks!]
It was a crazy few months getting Wordia built, creating seed video content and getting the project out the door, ready to deliver to coincide with Doctor J’s big day. To be honest, we could have done with a few more months to test and perfect things – but when is anything perfect (as a tech start-up)?! We worked long days and even longer nights in the run up to launch, and I am happy to say on reflection, our efforts then – and over the last 365 days – have been worth it.
We’ve broken new ground, creating something that hasn’t been done before. Yes, there are many online textual dictionaries, but none to date use an audio-visual entertainment mechanic to engage and entertain – and our latest, top-secret project – to educate!
That’s right, we’re working on a dedicated schools version of Wordia, that gets around the problem of YouTube not passing schools safety filters. Video brings the dictionary to life and in educational sense, makes literacy more engaging – more palatable to a young audience than a standard online textual dictionary.
If you’ve like to find out more about our Wordia Schools pilot (joining other literacy educators we have on board, to create something of real educational merit!) then we’d be delighted to hear from you and tell you more about the pilot and programme! Drop us a note here, and we’ll get back to you quick sharpish:
schools@wordia.com
This week’s theme is, would-you-have-guessed-it, Dr. Johnson Week! We’ve been scouring the Internet for Dr. Johnson experts, logophiles and word-lovers and have the pick of the bunch: 7x Johnson experts exploring words associated with the great man.
Test your knowledge! What’s the connection with Dr. Johnson and the following word?
‘Scrofula’ Not so sure? Well click here
Fresh from defining ‘five’ for us last week, Danny Robins is our guest blogger for today. He discusses the most important ‘five’ of all to an Edinburgh performer – those crucial stars at the top of a review.
And this year, he’s dishing them out as well as taking them.
Poacher Turned Gamekeeper
For a comedian, the Edinburgh Fringe is like one of those relationships you have where, even though you know you’re going to get hurt, you somehow find yourselves always ending up back in bed together. Year after year, we head up there with dreams of winning awards and landing big money TV deals; some do, a lot don’t, but still the buzz of this strange and unique experience – like a holiday camp for stand ups – draws us all back.
This year, I’m poacher turned gamekeeper. Instead of performing, I’ll be watching shows for Radio 4’s Saturday Review. It makes me feel slightly uncomfortable telling other comedians that I will be there as (whisper it) ‘ a critic’. It’s tantamount to confessing I slept with their wife or defecated on their collection of Bill Hicks DVDs.
Comedians and critics may be co-dependent but we will never get on. A few years ago I took part in a Comedians vs Critics football match. All the critics knew who we were but we had no idea who they were. In the second half when people started making connections – “their centre forward is the bloke from the Evening Post who gave me two stars” – the tackles went in a lot harder.
It always feels a bit weird going up to the festival if I’m not doing a show. Edinburgh is to comics what Ibiza is to DJs; anyone who is anyone is there and if you’re not gigging, you feel like you’re missing out. That’s where the Ibiza analogy ends; the weather is always awful.
I think one of the most interesting things this year will be seeing how the Fringe rides out the recession. With more and more people opting for ’staycations’, it may be that a trip to Scotland’s hilly rain-soaked capital offers an interesting and affordable alternative to the annual break in Tuscany or Provence. Who needs sun and red wine when you can have street performance and deep-fried pizzas?
This could be the year that the Fringe reclaims its ‘DIY’ status. When I first performed there as a student in 1997, in a tiny sweaty attic room so hot that men in the front row actually took off their shirts and sat there bare-chested, we were completely unheard of but people came and watched. We were probably quite awful, but for only a few quid a ticket, they weren’t afraid to take a risk.
In recent years though, with ticket prices hitting £15, audiences tend to be more wary about who they give their money to, relying on bigger name comics who they’ve seen on the telly and often missing out on some of the rougher diamonds and undiscovered gems who can’t afford to splash out on billboards and adverts on buses. Last summer however, the Free Fringe, organised by legendary Edinburgh Festival veteran Peter Buckley Hill, started to attract both punters and performers and 2009 sees the debut of the ‘Five Pound Fringe’ where every show at the venues involved will cost – you guessed it – a fiver.
There are some decent acts doing these cheap shows, perhaps because comedians themselves are starting to feel the pinch. Putting on a show at one of the big established venues can cost as much as a deposit on a small house once you’ve paid for publicity costs, venue hire, accommodation and of course beer money, and some Edinburgh stalwarts are now opting to do shorter runs at smaller venues and pass on the savings to their audience. This can only be a good thing. This summer, go and see one or two big names at fifteen quid a pop and then take in 6 other shows for the same cost. Of course I get in free anyway – I’m a reviewer; I just need to get over the self loathing first.
What do strawberries & cream, queuing and a bit of sunburn all epitomise? That’s right, it’s that fantastic time of year again when the world’s elite descend on Wimbledon for a fortnight of doing battle on the green courts!
Game, set and match to the Wordia team who have working with the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) to get ‘British Tennis Week’ up and running as our next campaign!
We have been filming down at the LTA’s very impressive, very modern training grounds over the last few weeks to meet and greet some of the existing and rising stars of UK tennis. We have also endured the blistering heat of the Wimbledon queue to get some very enthusiastic fans to give us their views on the words for ‘British Tennis Week’.
We have braved sunburn and dehydration, but it is all worth it in the name of Wordia, and next week’s campaign is set to be as scorching as the sun has been over the Wimbledon skies.
So starting Monday 29th June we will have some great names from UK tennis up on the site giving us their unique views and ideas on some inspirational words, and how these words are applicable to them in their everyday life.
So it is all systems go here at the Wordia office as we are checking & re-checking everything in preparation for the launch of refugee week! Don’t forget that you can come and join us with the Celebrating Sanctuary festival on London’s southbank this Sunday. We are going to be down there with the other 22 thousand people enjoying the sunshine, and getting some of the great members of the public to come and define some words for us, so come along and get yourself on Wordia.com
We have some great talent lined up for this weeks Word of The Days, so don’t’ forget to log in on Sunday to check it out and to see the new layouts and additions to the website!
We’ve been really busy over the last few months here at Wordia HQ, heads-deep in code and production rushes, working on some exciting new developments. In that time, you’ve emailed us in your dozens, kindly giving us feedback on the current Beta site – what you like and what you hate – and we’ve responded!
Firstly, a big technical development; we’ve changed the way we produce and publish our word of the day videos. We’re now ‘theme-ing’ our Word of the Day videos, creating a week of related words by topic. This allows us to create themed content around public events (‘Christmas Week’ for example, with words relating to the festive period).
We’re kicking things off with an exciting partnership with Refugee Week, starting June 14th – a week of words, raising awareness of refugees in conjunction with a fantastic media partner (stay tuned!).
What better way to start this week long activity, than by filming at the Celebrating Sanctuary event on London’s Southbank (22K people!). If you want to come down and have some fun, support a great charity – and even meet the Wordia team and define a word of your own – then check out http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk for all the details. See you there.
On a different note, we’re still busy filming great Word of the Day content (you have subscribed, right…?); Wednesday was a real treat as we got the chance to catch up with world music legend Baaba Maal, http://www.baabamaal.tv. The Senegalese super star took us on a journey around his favourite London record store before hitting the stage to play out songs from his latest album, much to delight of the crowd.
Friday saw us whipping up a storm with the Irish indie boys, The Blizzards. We were treated to some good old-fashioned rock & roll as Niall from the band serenaded us with his melodic tones and explained his thoughts on ‘Reverie’ (coming soon!).
Saving the best ’til last we’ve just met and filmed comedy genius and living legend, Mr Andrew Sachs for Refugee Week (Andrew’s father moved to the UK from Occupied Nazi Germany). Andrew had some a truly unique perspective of the word ‘Home’.
Don’t forget to check out Andrew, Baaba and much much more from Sunday 14th June as part of our Refugee Week activity.
If you have any thoughts, comments or suggestion for us, please drop us a note to:
Looking forward to hearing from you.
The Wordia team
It’s been a lively start to the spring at Wordia. The comedy contributions rumble on apace with definitions from a pair of funny Simons – Life of Si, offal-obsessed Diane Morgan, Kettering’s own James Acaster and some familiar-feeling faces from top impressionist Jess Robinson (her from the Head Cases & Dead Ringers).
Sexpert Tracey Cox got our temperatures rising with her definitions. Our red-blooded, two man crew struggled to maintain their professionalism when visiting her stunning West-London pad to film the interview. She offered to let us film in the bedroom, but that was more responsibility than we were prepared to take, so we stayed put in her living room.
We were treated to a culinary treat by Antonio Carluccio, who invited us to his Covent Garden restaurant, where he rustled up an amazing zabaglione, and treated us to a glass of his finest champagne while defining some gastronomic terms for us. More of this please. We’re checking on Heston’s availability for our next course!
We met post-punkers The Rakes, ahead of their new tour. We’re big fans of these skinny rockers, so a flooded venue didn’t manage to scupper our interview, and we were relegated to the car park for their on-camera English lesson.
Our producer’s pile of free books is growing by the day. Recent interviews with Marcel Theroux, Chris Manby, Olivia Darling, Karen Maitland and Kasey Edwards mean that his commute is suddenly overrun with choices of literature. Sadly, Tracey Cox never gave him any of her titles.
Wordia continues to grow, and our power people are preparing pitches for various exciting online delights. We’ll keep you posted on these, but in the meantime, as ever…
…keep it Wordia.
Here at Wordia HQ it’s been a hectic start to the month, caused mainly by mother nature covering us in a blanket of snow, and forcing us to down our linguistic tools for a few days . Ever since, we’ve been making up for lost time, out filming all over the place.
The snow had an impact on our Words of the Day too, with Marcel Lucont and Nick Doody both doing snowman-related definitions. They are just two of the many comedians who’ve been keen to get involved with us. Katherine Ryan delighted us all with her (non-filthy) definition of spunk (see it here http://www.wordia.com/wotd/2009/2/9). There’s more to come from her over the next few weeks. Pappy’s Fun Club were a delight, and squeezed us in for a few sketches before they headed off on their ridiculously extensive tour. Comedian’s comedian and Eddie Izzard’s replacement-in-waiting Gerry Howell will help us to feel the love with his definition on Valentine’s Day.
It’s not all frivolous though. Property developer and presenter Kristian Digby gave us all a moment for thought with his great and personal definition of Dyslexia. He’s dyslexic himself and had a genuinely refreshing insight into dealing with the condition. When we were filming him, it came as no surprise to us that his pad was unbelievably plush – a Beverley Hills crib in the middle of East London.
The next week will keep us on our toes, and Wordia to a money expert, a hundred-metre sprinter, an author, a sexpert, a mercury-nominated jazz musician, four more comedians and another author. Keep an eye on our Words of the Day to see who they are.
We’re off to define “pub”.
As ever, keep it Wordia.
As January draws to a close, Wordia’s new year has been filled with laughter.
We’ve had Words of the Day from brilliant acts like Bronya and Siony, the Sunday Defensive and Adam Riches to name but a few. Not only that, but we’re filming with comedy heroes like Gerry Howell, Pappy’s Fun Club, Marcel Lucont, Nick Doody and Josie Long. So keep an eye on Word of the Day in February, which is now officially the funniest month of the year.
On a more personal level, the word of the month in the office has probably been “revulsion” as a certain member of the team returned from holiday with a tropical spider bite on a delicate area. Said bite-on-the-behind grew to such outlandish proportions at one point, that host and bite were practically indistinguishable from one another. Not that we looked at it, you understand. We’re told that some of these bites can be from spiders laying their eggs inside you. Is that true, or an urban myth? What does urban myth mean to you? Upload your definitions to share with the world.
Meanwhile, the fight at the top of the charts for best word is heating up nicely. Nick Clegg and Quentin Blake are putting up a solid fight for the top spot, with user Fishcatshoe managing to bag three of the top five spots. It’s Daveyboyz who’s back at the top though, with his definition of Goodness. If you’ve seen a definition that can beat all of these, be sure to rate it.
This week I’m going to attempt to write the blog with the theme of crap Christmas Cracker jokes as we’re hoping to see Santa come down our chimney and are currently discussing if we’re leg or breast men – turkey wise of course. So first up out of our yuletide wordia cracker:
First up: what do you get if you cross a star with a sailor? A hugely successful indie band of course! Following massive success in the early and mid noughties Starsailor have been a bit quiet of late. But here at Wordia we’ve learnt that it’s only really because like every other band in the known universe they’ve decided to leave EMI. They are back with a bang in a few months time with a new album on the Virgin label. We caught up with lead singer James Walsh on the cusp of his big comeback. For a man who regularly performs in front of thousands he was remarkably softly spoken, but unsurprisingly eloquent with a lyrical quality to his turn of phrase. Watch out for his endearing videos coming soon.
Next is more of a riddle than a joke. Can you guess the real names of up and coming double act Bronya and Siony? Honda and Sammi? Inge and Hermione? No – it’s Sonya and Briony, who have made the almost double bluff of protecting their anonymity by merely switching the first letters of their Christian names. Could they be the next French and Saunders? Quite possibly on the evidence of the definitions they gave us. Word play is really their forte so they were perfect for wordia.
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a knock knock joke in a cracker. So in that spirit try this one: Knock knock. Who’s there? Dungeon. Dungeon who? Dungeon know that we went to the London Dungeon this week! Your correspondent hadn’t been to the spooky attraction since he was in short trousers and didn’t recall it being particularly alarming. But in the interim period they’ve really upped the ante and it actually ended up being quite scary. They’ve got real rats you know! We were escorted round by the PR lady and the actor we were filming with and to avoid bumping into the paying public we kept on having to walk up and down a bit of the dungeon known as plague street. One of the main features in that area is a mannequin dressed as a plague victim which, when triggered by a sensor, sneezes a mist of water (hopefully!) at hapless passers by. You know in Indiana Jones and the Last crusade when having seen a useless Nazi decapitated Indy knows how to time his run just right so he avoids the slashing blades of the booby traps protecting the Holy Grail. Well in this case the PR lady and the actor (being seasoned pros) were the Indys and we were the useless Nazis – getting hosed in the face by the sneezing dummy on no less than three occasions.
Finally in site news ‘Illustration’ by Quentin Blake is still number one on the wordia chart. If you’ve found a definition you think can beat it make sure you rate it at the end of your viewing of it so it races up the chart to challenge for the top spot.
A very happy Christmas to you all and as always, keep it wordia.
Tweets- wordia: And so.... the Wordia Schools Pilot launches... (the first Iteration!) . Loads of hard work. Hope the educators like it! November 11, 2009
- wordia: We're running 'Legal Week', with the awesome guys at Sheridans Media Lawyers. Anyone know what 'Escrow' means?! http://wordia.com/ November 3, 2009
- wordia: Running 'Legal Week' this week in Wordia.com - some personal insight from respected lawyers... November 2, 2009
- wordia: Working with the lovely folk at the OU Open Platform this week! Some really inspiring individuals: http://wordia.com October 19, 2009
- wordia: Meeting a literacy expert at a school in Banbury. Exciting! October 14, 2009
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