On Marketplace each night, we “do the numbers.” But today, I’d like to “do the words.” The words used in a State of the Union address are a pretty good gauge of the country’s current challenges and priorities. I took the text of last night’s speech and several previous SOTU addresses and and fed them into the engine at Wordle.net. It spits out what I’d call a word painting. Let’s see if you can guess which one is last night’s speech.
Click on each box below to get a full-screen view. The answers are below SOTU #8, so don’t scroll down too far if you’re challenging yourself.
It’s funny how many of the words are the same over time, but each speech has a couple of words that are good hints of what decade you’re in.
The choices are: Obama 2010, Bush 2005, Clinton 1994, Reagan 1982, Kennedy 1961, FDR 1941, Lincoln 1861, Washington 1790. Alright, let’s see how you do:
SOTU #1
title=”Wordle: SOTU #1″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594048/SOTU_%231″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #1″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #2
title=”Wordle: SOTU #2″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594143/SOTU_%232″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #2″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #3
title=”Wordle: SOTU #3″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594068/SOTU_%233″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #3″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #4
title=”Wordle: SOTU #4″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594079/SOTU_%234″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #4″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #5
title=”Wordle: SOTU #5″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594094/SOTU_%235″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #5″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #6
title=”Wordle: SOTU #6″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594120/SOTU_%236″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #6″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #7
title=”Wordle: SOTU #7″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594319/SOTU_%237″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #7″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
SOTU #8
title=”Wordle: SOTU #8″>
src=”http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1594329/SOTU_%238″
alt=”Wordle: SOTU #8″
style=”padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd”>
And the answers are…
SOTU #1 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941
SOTU #2 – George W. Bush, 2005
SOTU #3 – Barack Obama, 2010
SOTU #4 – Ronald Regan, 1982
SOTU #5 – John F. Kennedy, 1961
SOTU #6 – Bill Clinton, 1994
SOTU #7 – Abraham Lincoln, 1861
SOTU #8 – George Washington, 1790
How’d you do?
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