Eamonn Fitzgerald's Rainy Day

Having received the benediction of TechCruch, John McGrath's Wordie has acquired buzz. Given our weakness for wise words, something like Wordie is bound to be fascinating so we had to speak to the man behind the code. And, without further ado, as the best MCs say, here he is:

RAINY DAY: Where did the Wordie idea come from?

John McGrath: It started as a joke, the idea of creating a tagging site where the tags were the content. And for years I've been in the habit of emailing interesting or amusing or aesthetically pleasing words back and forth with an old friend of mine. I combined those two things — tags as content, and sharing lists of words — and got Wordie.

One irony of that genesis is the fact that, eventually, I'll probably be adding tagging to Wordie, so you can tag your words. Many people have requested it, and I think it could be really useful.

RAINY DAY: How did you create Wordie and when did it go online?

John McGrath: Wordie was built over the American holiday of Thanksgiving, which was on November 23rd this year, when my girlfriend and I were visiting her parents. It took a few days to build the initial version, and it was launched Nov. 26th. It only had 4 users until my friend Tim, who runs Librarything blogged about it, at which point it exploded. In the first week 1,000 people signed up. Amazing, for an all-text site, built in a few days, and launched with no fanfare.

RAINY DAY: Given the growth so far, what can you predict for, say, this time next year? How many words, how many registered members?

John McGrath: I don't think I can, to be honest. It's only a few weeks old, and it was intended as a fun little toy for a handful of people. I'm shocked and amazed — and very happy — that so many peope are enjoying it, but it caught me off guard. I've spent the last few weeks madly fixing things and adding new features, and haven't given the next few weeks any thought, much less next year. I have two wishes, though: that it keeps growing, and that the quality of the contributions remain high. The citations and comments people have been adding to words tend to be both erudite and, often, very funny. I hope that's always the case.

RAINY DAY: The sound of a word, especially fascinating words such as "numinous" and "copasetic" for example, can be vital in helping the learner or the collector to make sense of the term. Can you imagine sound files being integrated with Wordie?

John McGrath: I hadn't thought about it, but it's a great idea. If I was to ad sound files, what I would do is incorporate some way for members to upload their own. It would be especially interesting, being able to hear how different people, from different places, pronounce the same word.

RAINY DAY: Which linguistic feature would you love to add to Wordie, if you had the time and resources?

John McGrath: I plan on eventually adding an integrated spellchecker. Also I hope, in the not to distant future, to have definitions available from within Wordie — right now it links each word to a handful of dictionaries (as well as Wikipedia and Google), but I'd like to let visitors get definitions by, say, hovering over a word. I'm looking for a data source — if anyone reading this knows of an online dictionary with an API, email me :-)

Hm, not sure those features are strictly linguistic, but they're what's on deck. Suggestions are always welcome.

RAINY DAY: I believe that something like Wordie (perhaps, Wordie) has potential in a literate society faced with an ageing demographic and the threat of widespread Alzheimer's. I mean that those who wish to remain articulate and up-to-date with the ever expanding English lexis will need tools that stimulate and challenge their vocabulary, and the likes of Wordie, if available on mobile devices, could be critical. Is this a leap too far on my part?

John McGrath: I don't know enough to say, but I'd be very pleased if Wordie had multiple uses, especially something as worthwhile as what you describe. Right now it's a fun community with educational overtones — I've learned a lot of excellent words, and read some great stories about words, since it launched. If other uses arose, that would be fantastic. If there was a specific project that needed it, I'd be happy to consider building an API.

RAINY DAY: As soon as a Web 2.0 concept appears today, it seems as if venture capital is not far behind. Have you had any offers? Or, let's put it this way: do you think Wordie has commercial potential?

John McGrath: I don't know. I've had a few offers for sponsorships, which is flattering, but for the time being I've opted against that — it's such a young community, I'd like to just help it grow organically, and focus just on making it excellent. I'm not averse to commercial interests, so long as they didn't have a deleterious effect on the spirit of the site.

RAINY DAY: The Wordie site looks, well, bare bones. Any plans to touch it up a bit?

John McGrath: Nope. I'd like to add more types of content, but everything I envision is text. The site is called Wordie for a reason — people who like words are ok with just words. In fact, it seems they prefer just words. I've had complaints from casual visitors that it needs more design, some graphics, color. But they've been far outweighed by heavy duty users who love the simplicity of it, and love having everything revolve around the words themselves.

RAINY DAY: Final question. Can you tell us three of your favourite words and why one of them made your Top Three list?

John McGrath: That's the hardest question you've asked — I've always read a lot, and loved words, and for the past few weeks I've been swimming in them — there's just so many good ones. And the ones I'm excited about change constantly. But off the top of my head, I'll say "dirigible", "misandrist" and "phatic". Phatic I included because I love how it sounds, and especially its definition — it denotes words that are used to convey emotion or mood rather than meaning. But as a word, it sort of contradicts itself — it's such a precise, almost technical term. It's not phatic at all.

Our sincere thanks to John McGrath for taking the time to complete this Q&A. We wish him the best of luck with Wordie.