FINALLY abc had some descent programming on tonite!

[ABEL]

scripps national spelling bee winner 2007

 

[Bonochick]

My mom watched part of it last night, she called to tell me it was on because I did spelling bees when I was in school. Those competitions are intense, it's unbelievable.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

The documentary Spellbound shows what these kids do to get ready for the national bee. Some of the stuff is pretty crazy.

It makes me proud to see that the national bee is starting to be televised. I feel like it sets a good example for kids, who might take a lot of their cues about what it means to be successful from TV. It's good that they can see more programming including people their age than just the Little League World Series and all those teenage melodramas.

 

[Canadiens1131]

Awww hell naw.

 

[cstar]

What was the winning word?

 

[Chizip]

What was the winning word?

decent

ABEL lost

 

[Bonochick]

 

[FitzChivalry]

What was the winning word?

I think it was: Serrefine (but don't quote me on that).


Ok, I might get hollered at for this, BUT: the kid that won was a bit scary to me. I think he was a certifiable Genius, but damn he was weird. My friend and I were texting back and forth (rooting for the bracelet girl to win--she came in 3rd ) and saying how we were both a little scared of that matematical-concerto composing kid.

 

[ABEL]

decent

ABEL lost

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

That was awesome, but I had to keep turning it off because I got so nervous for the kids.

 

[CTU2fan]

The thing with the bee is - OK, I'm a pretty smart guy, really I am. I used to do pretty good in the school bees, win or be one of the last 3-5 standing at least. Well, I could watch the Scripp's bee for an hour and not spell A SINGLE word right. I mean come on, I've never even heard of 99% of these words, and if somebody used one in a scrabble game I'd call BS for sure. And here are these kids, just ripping off word after word like it's cat or dog.

Basically, when I watch, I feel stupid But it is cool, and I'm glad it's on TV.

 

[Bonochick]

When I did spelling bees, I won at district and regional every year in middle school, but I could never win at state (well, they counted the U.P. of Michigan as a separate state, so it was technically U.P. finals) and advance to the nationals. The best I got was 5th in my grade. Before each bee, we were given a long list of words. Our dictionary at home didn't even have many of the words. Dad and I would always have to take a trip out to the library to look up words. He would help me study every night, and I'd have the whole list down. Once they exhausted the list during competition though, they would just start with random words. How kids can get some of those insane words that weren't on the list, I have no clue. An incredible amount of work goes into preparing for a bee though. I guess, unless, you are just THAT smart. I consider myself a good speller, but I still studied really hard. It was also very heartbreaking to lose, you always ended up with kids crying (me included).

 

[pepokiss]

did love_u2_adam ever participated in this?...



love you, kayla

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

It's often the case that students who are better at math and science do better in the bee, because they're often better at rote memorization. It's not that they know all these words; it's that they've studied them for months. I think often what determines the winner is as much how well a kid can memorize the list as it is how well the kid can actually spell.

I placed second in my fifth grade spelling bee. Stupid "zucchini"

 

[Bonochick]

I only remember two of the words I went out on. One was porcelain. I second-guessed myself and went with "porcelian". Ugh. To go out on such a simple word!!!! Adding insult to injury, when I went to touch up my nail polish a couple days later, I realized that the shade name was Porcelain Pink.

The other one I remember was cumbersome. Once again, seems like such a simple word, especially considering other words I had spelled! I started off fine...but I didn't put the "e" on the end. I remember everyone in the audience staring at me in disbelief after I stopped talking. As my parents put it, "We just kept waiting for you to say the 'e'!"

The worst year was the year that after you got eliminated, they made you just turn your nametag around (they were hanging around our necks) and remain onstage. Oh my gosh, that was TORTURE. We had to remain sitting in front of everybody after getting cut, trying not to cry. This one girl couldn't help it and was just sobbing throughout the rest of the competition. Why couldn't they just let us go join our family in the audience? ? That was brutal to have to stay up there. The next year, once you got eliminated, you had to go over to the judges, remove your nametag, and then leave the stage. I tried to stay composed and do it quickly, but my nametag got tangled in my hair as I was trying to remove it, and I ended up crying while still onstage. You could hear like all of these sympathetic noises from the audience, it was humiliating.

The bees were a lot of fun when I won...but not much when I lost. I always give those kids credit, it's tough stuff! Those nationals kids are amazing.

 

[CTU2fan]

I was a really poor loser as a kid though. I'd sit there, listening to kids miss words that I could spell with no problems...and then it's my turn and here comes some word I've never heard before. So of course I'm pissed...picture the pizza guy in Big Daddy "not fair! he get all easy words!" hehe. I actually think I might hold the record for shortest word missed, 3 letters (alm). This was in 4th grade maybe? My ex, who's kind of a genius, missed "mediocre" once in elementary school and it bothers her to this day.

I do feel for the ones who miss. At this level I'm sure the pressure they put on themselves is pretty intense.

 

[Pop Artist]

I missed a lot of the bee but watching the last few words I did know one - pappardelle. I was pretty chuffed that I knew it. A big part of the reason that these kids can spell these words that they're unfamiliar with is that they also study etymology, that's why they keep asking for the origin as well as the meaning of a word.

Of course, back when I had spelling bees, I didn't even know what etymology was, let alone spell it and I was/am a pretty good speller. I won my fifth grade class' spelling bee and came in second in the school-wide - nerves got the best of me and I misspelled a stupid word - traffic! I left a f off.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

It's amazing the amount of pressure these kids put on themselves, and the amount of pressure put on them by their families, schools, and communities. Most of them seem like they handle it very well. It must be a very maturing experience but incredibly stressful too.

I won my school's geography bee when I was in fifth grade, and the amount of attention I got kind of freaked me out. I was a pretty shy kid, and I'd won on what had completely been a lucky guess, but for a short time I was in the running to go to the national bee sponsored by National Geographic. The big scary qualifying test put an end to that pretty quickly, but I still got a lot more attention than I expected to over it.

 

[LMP]

It's often the case that students who are better at math and science do better in the bee, because they're often better at rote memorization. It's not that they know all these words; it's that they've studied them for months. I think often what determines the winner is as much how well a kid can memorize the list as it is how well the kid can actually spell.

I placed second in my fifth grade spelling bee. Stupid "zucchini"

Same here, I missed "olfactory," because the idiot teacher said "O-FACTORY"

 

[corianderstem]

I was the district spelling bee champ in 6th grade, and I got pretty close to winning the regional bee, but I lost out on "abominable." I thought it was "abomiDable."

 

[CTU2fan]

You should've protested. So many people say "abomidable" that it ought to be an alternate spelling.

 

[Bonochick]

It's amazing the amount of pressure these kids put on themselves, and the amount of pressure put on them by their families, schools, and communities. Most of them seem like they handle it very well. It must be a very maturing experience but incredibly stressful too.

I won my school's geography bee when I was in fifth grade, and the amount of attention I got kind of freaked me out.

My parents were always so nice about it. Whenever I'd be frustrated or feeling like I didn't want to study, Dad would always say, "You don't HAVE to do this. Only do this if you want to." I mean, I did want to, but there were times it was overwhelming. Dad would help me study every night...although, sometimes I'd spell a word he gave me, look at him to see if I was right, and discover he'd fallen asleep.

I was never a popular kid, but I remember one year having signs and banners plastered all over a hallway to cheer me on. It was nice, but it was just so odd to get that kind of attention...and it kind of made it more painful when I lost because I felt like I'd really let people down.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

CNN interview with the winner. Awkward much? God forgive me but that kid is obnoxious and annoying

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2862093

 

[cobl04]

It's just good for these kids... a bit of respect and exposure when they wouldn't normally get it.

I went out the only time I tried with the word 'appropriate' But the worst part was I had to stay in the room the whole lunchtime and wait until it was finished