Thursday, June 2, 2011

MAY I HAVE THE DEFINITION PLEASE? (Round Four) :

6:56 am (West Coast time): I recently gave up coffee. So I have a cup of green tea by my side. I’m dressed for the event: sweatpants and a ponytail. I have warmed up my fingers. My keyboard is ready for typing. I am staring at ESPN impatiently waiting for 7 am. And I am a little more excited than is normal for a grown woman about to watch a bunch of children spell words. But I don’t care. It’s the best day of the year – Bee Day! Let the Scripps National Spelling Bee begin…

7:00/10 am: I am delighted by ESPN’s video montage of former local Bee contestants talking about their spelling experiences, some old and some young, none of whom can say the tongue twister “Scripps National Spelling Bee”. It’s charming.

It’s finally ON! 41 spellers will be competing. They don’t do any fancy commentating. Instead they go right to the spelling! Snigdha Nandipati is up first. Her word is “meridienne” and she gets it right! She likes collecting coins and reading mystery novels. I love her geeky cheer.

The hot hardcore speller that everyone is watching is Canadian Laura Newcombe. She’s up second and she spells “isochronal” in a bossy confident way that makes me want to applaud. Spell like you mean it, take no prisoners and make no apologies. I dig Laura.

Veronica Penny and David Phan. Their words are “boutade” and "deuteragonist” respectively. Deuteragonist is, obviously, the actor taking the part of second importance in a classical Greek drama. We all knew that. They both take a long time to sound out and ask questions (origin, use it in a sentence) but they get their words right.

"Duchesse" (a very small cream puff filled with sweet or savory filling used as a dessert or served with cocktails) is spelled by 5th grader Dhivya Murugan.

Grace Remmer tied for 9th last year. I remember her well. She’s got long hair and glasses, a weary confidence and she asks about Greek roots just because she can. Her word is “anaphylaxis” and spelling it is no big deal.

Commercial. During which I will take a moment to note that BBC (Bossy But Cute) Jacques Bailly is back, pronouncing words, cuter and bossier than ever. BBC Bailly was the 1980 Spelling Bee champ and now he serves as the official pronouncer of the Bee. He’s been pronouncing words since 2003 and no one does it better.

7:25: In the comments section of this post, Samir Patel (genius speller and one of my personal favorites) says that he guarantees that all these spellers want is for this day to be over. That feels incredibly true and incredibly sad. But boy is Pranay Sivakumar adorably cute, tiny and confident and spelling "excrescential" like he owns it.

Jamaica is back and spelling! Hanif Brown, Jr. Serious, deadly serious, frighteningly serious. He stares straight ahead. He spells “mansuetude” and marches back to his seat.


We have lost our first speller!! Emily Keaton goes down! She’s got great, lush hair curving over her face, a lovely Southern lilt and a killer smile. But it doesn’t matter. She is taken down by “sciamachy” which means “a fighting with a shadow; a mock or futile combat as with an imaginary foe”. The Spelling Bee is her sciamachy.

7:40/10:40 am: We lose local boy Sam Osheroff from Maryland on the word “nuque” and he looks devastated.

Surjo Bandyopadhyay asks BBC Bailly: “May I have all the information on this word that you can give me?” He gets a laugh and then Bailly gives him a huge amount of information and Surjo spells “lysozyme” easily.

I am fascinated by the parents of the Spellers. Some seems lost, befuddled by the single-minded brilliance of their offspring that brings them to the Bee. These parents don’t quite understand why their kid isn’t outside playing or pretending to be Hanna Montana or whatever. They never banked on a geek in the family. Some seem thrilled and amazed, all “my kid is so awesome even if I have no idea what that word is he/she is spelling!” These parents are my favorites. I love their exuberance and their joy. My least favorite parents? The ones who behave as if this is THEIR Bee, as if winning means everything, as if this Bee is all they have worked for. I worry about their children. And I fully admit that I’d likely be one of these Tracy Flick-ian parents myself. Which is why I keep my tiny human far, far from the Bee World.

7:52/10:52 am: Jenny Solheim is a 2nd generation Bee. Her mother was in the 1972 and 1974 Scripps Bee. Jenny does not look happy to be here. But maybe Jenny is just thinking very hard about her difficult word “exsculpate”.

Dakota Jones has been spelling hardcore words since he was 2 years old. Truly. They show us video to prove it. He’s cute as a button and speaks too loudly which makes me love him. He spells “whirlicote” and heads back to his seat.

Apparently, I am a “turophile” – a fancier of cheese. Prakash Mishra spells it easily.

Sunny Levine is back! She’s from Akron Ohio. I like Sunny because she loves Scrabble and wants a career in medicine. But she goes down on “lithotrity”…

BBC Bailly just referred to The Jeffersons in using a word in a sentence. I kid you not.

Nicholas Rushlow is a four time Bee speller. He also plays the violin, collect Legos and Star Wars stuff, swims competitively and also loves Scrabble (I am betting all these kids love Scrabble). He spells “devoir” and heads to his seat. He and Laura Newcombe and Joanna Ye are the most dangerous competitors in the competition…

8:21/11:21 am: I will be honest. I am rooting for Joanna Ye. Full on. She tied for 5th place last year with Laura Newcombe and she’s the super model of the competition -- pretty, poised and completely comfortable in her own skin. She wants to be a brain surgeon when she grows up and she plays both the flute and the alto sax. She rocks. She gets “brachygraphy” which is a method of writing rapidly by substituting characters, abbreviations or symbols for letters, words or phrases: shorthand. She spells it easily and laughs, charmed, by BBC Bailly’s use of Bernie Madoff in his sentence.

Sukanya Roy seems mousy and shy on the stage but in her interview we discover she’s a spitfire, full of giggles and energy. I decide she is simply all business when she is on stage; “mousy and shy” is just her game face. Her word is “hesthogenous” which means having a covering of down when hatched. She spells it methodically and easily, writing each letter on her hand with her finger. She’s through to the next round.

8:33/11:33 am: I am going to start using “nystagmus” (which means a rapid involuntary oscillation of the eyeballs occurring normally with dizziness during and after bodily rotation or abnormally after injuries) in daily conversation as much as possible. Mashad Arora spelled it to move on to the next round.

Anna-Marie Sprenger might be the most adorable geek here today. She has a flower in her hair, announces “I think I got this” before she spells and wears awesome earrings. She’s kind of a rock star of spelling cool and she knows it.

Random Musing At The End of Round Four: Not enough Spellers are went down in this round. We’re at the end at there’s WAY too many Spellers standing. The words next round must be brutal…

71 comments:

  1. LET'S BEE, Y'ALL!

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  2. And Laura Newcombe is through to round 5.  isochronal

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  3. Joanna Ye studied the ENTIRE Webster's Third since last summer. She narrowed it down to a notebook of 80,000 words. Wow.

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  4. No mistakes yet.  The words don't seem to be too terrible though.  Then again, it's only Round 4.

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  5. Veronica Penny takes a remarkable amount of time on each word, It's approaching the level of Jamaica's Trudy McLeary, but without the "thank you sir".

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  6. Yeah, I think it's possible to overthink a word. It's also possible that she could get down to the last 20 seconds or so, get nervous, and stumble over some letters. Maybe not.

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  7. Samir (and other vets), what's it like dealing with all the commercial breaks and promo pieces the tv coverage inserts?  Frustrating, or do you learn how to deal with it?

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  8. Anonymous10:15 AM

    So far, everything but "duchesse" has been CWL.

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  9. I'm not sure.  I know that it would definitely increase the pressure on the spellers -- I remember being extremely annoyed when that ESPN reporter [Stuart Scott, I think?] came on stage and started grilling me before a commercial break.

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  10. Normally is, at this point.

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  11. AND GRACE IS THROUGH!

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  12. I guess it's just more exhausting than anything else.  I can guarantee you that all those 41 kids want is for today to be over.

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  13. Anonymous10:25 AM

    Actually, I'm surprised that there have been 2 that haven't been.  (duchesse and ovidian)

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  14. For those of us with espn today (of all days) do you have a link to follow with real time updates? Can't seem to find it.

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  15. isaac_spaceman10:26 AM

    I might be annoyed by Stuart Scott asking me questions in any situation at all.  "Excuse me, do you know what time the bus gets here?"  "Aaaaaughh, just cut the schtick, okay?" 

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  16. Well, there's ESPN3.com for online streaming, but otherwise here's the Bee site updates.

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  17. Adam C.10:29 AM

    It's live on ESPN360.com again, if you have access.

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  18. Thanks. I was going directly to scripps and was befuddled.

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  19. And in two versions: with and without the chyron showing the proper spelling while the kids are working through each word.

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  20. I wonder if they still have a Comfort Room at the new hotel? Looks like there's a couch next to the stage where the kids who miss go sit.

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  21. isaac_spaceman10:36 AM

    Unofficial definitions: 
    "meridienne" -- the imaginary line that defines a woman's waist
    "isochronal" -- in order all by itself
    "boutade" -- a chilled summer drink made from the flowers worn at a formal dance
    "deuteragonist" -- person who hates Moses
    "duchesse" -- companion of a male d-bag
    "anaphylaxis" -- the state immediately preceding a correct diagnosis on House
    "Ovidian" -- long, boring, and translated from a dead language
    "canaille" -- a waterway navigable by blind people
    "excrescential" -- having the qualities of important feces
    "supposititious" -- hypomathetical
    "mansuetude" -- what Raylan Givens has
    "sciamachi" -- the word that Peter Gabriel shouts in "Biko" that nobody understands

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  22. isaac_spaceman10:37 AM

    I'm not the only one who thought "Elise Keaton" every time Emily Keaton spelled, am I?

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  23. Anonymous10:39 AM

    I almost never get to watch any of the Bee coverage, but thanks to y'all, I just <3<3<3 Bee Day.

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  24. Catherine10:42 AM

    <span>"I have had it with these godforsaken thanatophidia on this godforsaken plane."</span>
    Is it wrong that I found that sentence hilarious? We didn't have "fun sentences" during my time. 
    Also, these words are pretty typical of this round. 

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  25. I don't fully agree with that...it is definitely stressful, but I remember it being kind of fun sitting up there too.

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  26. Charles10:43 AM

    Ah, "thanatophidia." In the old Words of the Champions study book, which was the basis of most spelling bees and could get you through the first two rounds in Washington, that was one of my favorite words, along with "thrombophlebitis" and "sphygmomanometer." They were fun to say as well as spell.

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  27. I was reminded of the line in In Her Shoes when Maggie fears falling into "anaphallic shock".

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  28. No. Meredith Baxter-Birney is in all of our thoughts. haha

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  29. It wasn't rough for me at all, but we didn't stop competition during midround commercial breaks.

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  30. I laughed out loud. In the office.

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  31. Eric J.10:54 AM

    I taught my son to say <span>sphygmomanometer when he was 3.
    </span>

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  32. Charles10:54 AM

    I'm curious as to what Samir, Nupur, and others think of the humorous example sentences. Do they provide any helpful info to the spellers?

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  33. Adam C.10:54 AM

    "Can I please have the definition of this word, and if I toss you this whip, will you toss me the idol?"

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  34. marnie10:57 AM

    I almost forgot it was Bee day! So happy to be watching and reading the updates here!

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  35. I think I mostly asked for the sentence as a stall tactic to give myself time to think...but that was back before the humorous sentences and the timer.

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  36. Eric J.10:59 AM

    Would it have killed them to make sure he got thanatophidia?

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  37. lisased11:00 AM

    It reminds me of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", which changes example sentences often. At our show, the audience member asked the moderator (Darrell Hammond) to use "cow" in a sentence. Hammond intoned, "Please. Spell. Cow."

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  38. Charles11:02 AM

    An unexpected break in the competition (no commercial breaks then, though) helped unnerve me and mess with my concentration before I misspelled. But I think the spellers today know to expect it and do a better job at handling it.

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  39. isaac_spaceman11:02 AM

    Speaking purely as a lawyer who is decidedly non-championship spelling material, I think "exsculptate" is an insidious word.  So close to "exculpate," but so far, and if you steer wide around the obvious hazard, you'll miss the non-obvious one.     

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  40. Adam C.11:02 AM

    Would it have killed them to have used the approved-for-basic-cable "monkey-fighting" thanatophidia "on this Monday-to-Friday plane"?

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  41. Only 2 misses out of 24 kids so far. I'm guessing the next round is going to be a bloodbath.

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  42. Catherine11:05 AM

    As far as I know, the example sentences didn't become humorous until 2009, so I had no experience with them. I imagine they don't provide any extra help, except maybe some comic relief. It gets pretty intense up there.

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  43. Completely agreed.  That's one where asking for the definition and sentence would be quite important.

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  44. Was it round 5 or 6 last year that so many people went down? I know the words get harder as they go on, but that round hurt to watch.

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  45. Kind of unfair some kids get CWL words and some don't in the same round. Or not?

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  46. It was round six last year -- so bloody that they stopped the thing halfway to have a sufficient contingent for the evening.

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  47. Ack.  My Login name mysteriously disappeared. 

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  48. And they just had Rob Stone interview Nicholas Rushlow. Ugh. Leave 'em alone and let them spell.

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  49. That's right. I remember the controversy of fairness for half the kids in the same round getting to be in prime time and the other half not. Mostly I just remember willing the bell to stop dinging.

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  50. Isaac, your definition of "mansuetude" just made my day!

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  51. Eric J.11:27 AM

    And Krak gets smoked.

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  52. Marsha11:29 AM

    So did I!

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  53. isaac_spaceman11:30 AM

    awful

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  54. Marsha11:30 AM

    Lord, that was awful.

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  55. Marsha11:31 AM

    If you go to ESPN's website, you can just click on the "watch now" link.

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  56. Given that it'll take about 100 minutes to complete this round and they claim they're ending around 1pm, the next two rounds are going to be painful.

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  57. lisased11:37 AM

    Estep and Sprenger make it! And now I have a new adjective to teach my slug-loving daughter.

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  58. Marsha11:39 AM

    And if you're on the ESPN web feed, you can hear a lot of background noise durign the commercial break. Just now, there was a mother who was feverishly exhorting her kid to "Go to the restroom! Go now!"

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  59. Round 5...let the bloodbath begin?

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  60. 35/41 remain. We move on to Round 5.

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  61. Veronica Penny of Canada looks petrified.

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  62. lisased11:45 AM

    I kind of want those blocks.

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  63. genevieve11:58 AM

    That was tremendously unfair.  I dearly hope they dont do it this year.

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  64. Genevieve12:23 PM

    Joanna Ye's mother, in the montage of parents, looks so genuinely happy and somehow relaxed, or at least as if underneath the natural stress of the Bee, she's still not that tense.  makes me see where Joanna might get her calmness. 

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  65. Mona G.1:32 PM

    Things haven't changed. They pulled that schtick even when my kids participated, over ten years ago, even in the final rounds. Totally unfair.

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  66. Nupur3:03 PM

    I think these sentences are very helpful. A lot of these kids are avid readers and these sentences are better at providing context or elucidating meaning in such a way that they could fit the other pieces of information into their spelling of the word. Just getting the joke with these sentences gives you a better idea of the meaning. I'd often just blank out through the old bland sentences. 

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  67. Nupur3:06 PM

    I really think that the attitude taken by the parents to bee preparation and competition rubs off onto the kid. Joanna Ye's parnts have raised a champion-quality speller. She's prepared to the max and appropriately confident but not cocky or stressed to the point where she could stop thinking when she inevitably meets a word that could fell her. On the other hand, Veronica Penny's mother's unsmiling face and her daughter's frozen countenance of terror indicates that perhaps both mother and daughter are taking this competition a bit too seriously. 

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  68. Incidentally, there might actually be an explanation as to why the old spellers had so much trouble with the phrase "Scripps National Spelling Bee".

    Back when I was in the Bee, the sponsoring company-- and thus the bee-- was called "Scripps-Howard". After calling it that for so long, it's sort of hard to break the habit!

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