How to wrap each word of an element in a span tag?

Question

$(\"div.date\")
    .contents()
    .filter(
        function(){
            return this.nodeType != 1; 
        })
    .wrap(\"\");

I

Answer 1

var $div = $('.words');
var divWords = $div.text().split(/\s+/);
$div.empty();
$.each(divWords, function(i,w){
  $('').text(w).appendTo($div);
});

Then

Why hello there, world!

becomes

  Why
  hello
  there,
  World!