Thursday, June 3, 2010

ALLISON BLACK OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, COME ON DOWN! Any moment now, the first speller will step the microphone in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt of Washington, D.C. to begin the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The competitors are guaranteed two turns before the microphone today, and if it's like last year expect the morning to be hi mom and dad! I totally spelled this word! and the afternoon (which will be broadcast online at ESPN3 starting at 1:15p eastern) will do more to sort out the less-than-50 semifinalists from the pack.

The Bee's website and Twitter feed promises results as they happen, with AP writer Joseph White and the WaPo's Dan Steinberg expected to be tweeting from the room. We'll be updating this post as the morning progresses.

update, 8:34am: It's on! Ms. Black must feel some sense of seh-run-DIHP-uh-tee to have found such a fitting word, and the kids are 40/44 thus far. (Adam)

update 8:45 a.m.: With my own paper’s kid out in the preliminaries, I’m rooting for Esther Park of Little Rock. And amused she got “POS-um.” I wonder if the political crowd in Arkansas still gets together for their annual POS-um supper? (No, really, it’s a big event). (TPE)

update, 10 a.m.: 152 spellers so far, 137 spelling correctly. Vanya Shivashankar claims a +3, suggesting that no one is forcing yooth-uhn-AY-zhuh on her hopes just yet. (Adam)

Update 10:10 a.m.: It’s so rare that there is a word I’d actually nail, I was sorry to see J.R. Gomoll miss tra-tuh-REE-ah. Is tra-tuh-REE-ah number ten still there in Chicago? (TPE)

Update, 10:30 a.m.: Balderdash time: manciple ("a principle of conduct adhered to by dudes"), parvitude ("a state of being an exceptional manipulator and endurance challenge warrior on a reality tv competition"); gymkhana ("a new form of fighting involving 1984 Olympian Kurt Thomas and ... something Hindu something"); and huckaback ("supporter of an amiable fringe candidate"). (Adam)

Update, 10:43 a.m.: More Balderdash: metagnomy ("a state in which the short stature and brutish irritability of a character is a reference to or metaphor for the short stature and brutish irritability of the author"). (Isaac)

Update, 10:46 a.m.: Liner notes: hooray for the Decemberists ("picaresque") and Jack White ("raconteur"); boo for Simon & Garfunkel ("philippic"). (Isaac)

Update 11:16 a.m. More Balderdash (from the blog stylebook): premorse (“the emotion of grief one has when one learns that someone, whom you had assumed died years ago, has just now died.” e.g., TPE felt premorse when he heard of the well-beyond timely passing of Art Linkletter, whom he could not fathom was still alive.) (TPE)

Update, 11:33 a.m.Round 2 is complete; the spellers will be back at 1:15 p.m., and live on ESPN3 (online). We'll see what we can make of this round, and find out if Tim Ruiter enjoyed a cah-nuh-PAY at lunch. (Adam)

30 comments:

  1. And I feel really bad for the kid who got SAYG-way and thought it was the vehicle and not the transition.

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  2. The Pathetic Earthling8:51 AM

    What is the bons on that round two list?

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  3. And that's why you should ask for the definition.  It's not automatic elimination for incorrect in this round, right?

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling8:58 AM

    "bonus"

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  5. Anonymous9:07 AM

    +3 for each of the two words today, with up to 25 pts for yesterday's computerized round. Top up-to-50 scorers proceed to tomorrow.

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  6. Nolo Promittere9:12 AM

    I think rounds 2 and 3 are the bonus rounds - you get three points added onto your written test score for each word you get right.  If you miss the word you didn't earn the bonus (it doesn't automatically mean you are eliminated though - at least for round 2.

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  7. Sarah9:13 AM

    One of the Bee parents told me that both round 2 AND round 3 this year will be from lists the kids were given to study ahead of time. No excuses for missing a word in these rounds!

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  8. Professor Jeff9:15 AM

    Even if he'd asked for the definition, I'd bet he'd have misspelled it anyway.  I have students (heck, colleagues) who routinely misspell the transition as "segway."

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  9. Nolo Promittere9:18 AM

    None of the homeschoolers have missed so far :)

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  10. Devin McCullen9:40 AM

    I'm not accusing anyone of having an agenda, but I was amused to see gynarchy, patriciate and chauvinism show up in the span of 5 words.

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  11. Correct: it's (up to 25 for the computer round) with two +3's available today.  Add it all up, and the top up-to-50 make it to tomorrow.

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  12. Nolo Promittere10:08 AM

    What happens if you have 75 perfect scores?

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  13. They won't, but you're correct to flag that the rules don't account for it.

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  14. Oh, Alyssa Szczypien's going to feel a bit desultory today, having misspelled fi-LIP-ik.

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  15. Heather K10:29 AM

    #10 is still here in Chicago TPE!

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  16. Eric J.10:30 AM

    I lost my harmonica, Albert.

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  17. The Pathetic Earthling10:30 AM

    Hurrah!  Loved that place in law school.

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  18. Joseph J. Finn10:31 AM

    Interestingly, the subject of Spellbound is now a neuroscientist at MIT.

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  19. SarahC10:32 AM

    I'm sure they would take all 75 to the Semifinals.

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  20. That word just Robert McNamara'd her into submission.

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  21. Joseph J. Finn10:44 AM

    That's where I had my first date with my fiancee!  (Oh, did I mention I got engaged?)


    (Talk about a weirdly appropriate way for me to slide that in...)

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  22. Mazel tov!

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  23. It's certainly better than getting LBJ'ed into submission.

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  24. BeeFan11:13 AM

    It doesn't take 75 perfect scores.  All it takes is a lot of people tied for the next score after 48th or 49th.

    It could easily happen.  There are 273 spellers and only 31 possible scores.  And I don't think there will be any single digits.  Probably lots from 20 to 31.

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  25. Nolo Promittere11:18 AM

    They would just make the cutoff at 47 then - they promise no more than 50 semifinalists, not 50 exactly.

    If they have 1 perfect score and 50 people only one point away, the officials are perfectly within their rights to move only that one person up.

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  26. The Pathetic Earthling11:22 AM

    Well done, sir!

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  27. Last year's cutoff was at 41.

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  28. BeeFan11:27 AM

    Hmmm, you're right.  I misread the rules.

    So ... what if there are, say, 10 perfect scores and and 41 tied for the next spot?  Do we skip Friday afternoon and go straight to prime-time?

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  29. Nolo Promittere11:29 AM

    That's a perfect round for the homeschoolers - all thirty-one of them got their word right!

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  30. Marsha12:59 PM

    Speller #59 did a fine job - go Devora!

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