Want to put your big vocabulary to good use? Go to FreeRice and play a multiple-choice word game. For every correct answer, the site will donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger. (The money comes from advertisers listed on the site.)
The game starts with easy words like murderous and gets progressively harder, with words like doggo, mucronate, mavis, and footling. I briefly hit the top score of 50, but dropped back down with my next incorrect answer. (Reportedly, if you get 100 consecutive correct answers, you can reach the "secret" top level of 51. In my dreams... Update: Language Hat left a comment here to let us know that the "51" story is a joke.)
Since the site launched on Oct. 7, nearly 138 million grains of rice have been donated.
(A tip of the language hat to Language Hat.)
Just to keep any readers from being frustrated: the "Level 51" thing turned out to be a cruel, cruel joke from one of my commenters!
Posted by: language hat | October 23, 2007 at 06:36 AM
Thanks, Nancy and language hat. I had things to do today, briefs to file, clients to attend to. And now what am I doing? Free Rice. All day. Every time I hit 50 I get something like "tontine." It means "annuity," go figure. My day has turned into a cenote, which I now know is a "watery sinkhole." But for a good cause, I'll do this all day.
Posted by: Jessica | October 23, 2007 at 09:21 AM
I hit 48 and I'm going back for more. Addictive!
Posted by: Amy | October 25, 2007 at 05:48 AM