(New York) The New York Timesowner of the popular Wordle word game, hastily changed the solution to be found on Monday, because it was “fetus”, a word that fell in his eyes amid a threat to the right to abortion in the United States.
Posted at 2:04 p.m.
This Monday, among Wordle’s millions of daily players, “some might come across an outdated solution that seems closely related to a major recent news event. It is completely unintentional and it is a coincidence, ”wrote in a very serious message to users the editorial director of the games section of the prestigious daily, Everdeen Mason.
Without quoting the word “fetus” – “fetus” in English – she specified that the five letters had been generated and recorded “last year”, before the revelation a week ago of a plan to stop the Supreme Court which, if adopted as is, will send the United States back 50 years, when each state was free to prohibit or authorize abortions.
“In the games section of the New York Timeswe take our place as a place of entertainment and escape seriously, and we want Wordle to stay away from the news,” added Everdeen Mason.
But, she added, “when we discovered last week” that the word “fetus” was the solution of the day, it was too late to be able to change it for all users.
“We want to emphasize that this is something very unusual,” insisted the newspaper, which had already announced in mid-February that it had cleaned Wordle of “hurtful or rude” words to come. the New York Timeswhich has one of the largest editorial staff in the world, has been seeking for years to diversify to gain subscribers and in January bought the phenomenon game for several million dollars.
On social networks, some Internet users shared the two solutions of the day, “fetus” and a much more innocuous word, some mocking the luxury of precautions taken by the newspaper classified at the center left.
The editorial board of New York Timeswhich brings together journalists from its opinion section, formally took a stand in favor of the right to abortion last week, with a column entitled “America is not ready for the end of Roe versus Wade”, named of the Supreme Court ruling which enshrines it in American constitutional law.