Good luck!!! You’d better get to the finals, so we can see you on TV! Lol!
May the bunnies be with you (normally, I wouldn’t wish this fate on a mosquito, but this is not a normal situation, and, for reasons of mere public image, I’m sure the bunnies can make an exception in their nature)!!!
Arg we don’t get abc (it’s just a lot of static) and we don’t have cable. I hope she wins because then she might be on a station I can watch on our old screen receiving signals from an antenna sitting on top of the tv itself. *checks for spelling errors*
9-umm thats kinda… authoritarian of your parents, no?
13-its barely more girls. not significantly more.
14-ditto. except cable internet.
and umm. good luck. i saw spellbound too, and it looks pretty scary. especially the Indian kid who had like a thousand people praying for him to win.
We only get about 2 channels…I think PBS and KDKA or something. But I’m definitely watching it on YouTube! And it would be even better if the GAPAs could post it!
Haha…that reminds me! Remember the movie the GAPAs posted of Robert and Rosanne? (a picture attempt gone wrong)
Lieutenant. Lieutenant. Lieutenant. I’m drilling it into my brain so someday I can win a spelling bee. Lieutenant. Electricity. (A few years ago about five people went out on that one.)
i wish i knew her real name so i could see if she won! i actually tried out for the national geographic bee; only got to the school finals. i hope she wins, though!
Wow, a thread about me!
Thank you all who wished me luck, pied me, etc.
Spelling will begin just a little under twelve hours from now. I am nervous. I will try to keep you all posted on how I do, which isn’t likely to be very well (and please don’t tell me that’s not true, because really it is. I could get lucky and make it to TV, but that’s pretty unlikely). And winning is impossible. There are so many kids here who are way, way, way better than me. Samir Patel will probably win. And there’s a five-year-old here who can spell humuhumunukunukuapuaa faster than I can. She not a speller, just a speller’s little sister, but I bet she’ll be like the 2015 champion or some time around then. And I’m really babbling now, aren’t I? So I should stop. I need to get to slepp anyway. I have to be down there like 6:30 tomorrow. Bee week has been really fun so far, running around putting Ws on sno(w) cones and such but as of this evening it’s horrible, I am so nervous, I feel sorry for anyone who actually bothered to read this entire post, most of which is completely pointless but hopefully the PoPoPo will go easy on me since I’m nervous. And if they try to fine me choklit instead of chocolate I will…..aaah i can’t think of a good word. But i will be furious. Anyway. I should stop. I’ll post tomorrow as soon as I can to tell you how I did. bye.
oh and btw, here’s a weird word for you i just learned a few days ago from fellow spellers. bhutatathata. really fun to say over and over. Anyway, I’m really stopping now. This is totally babbling. I’m always like this before spelling bees. and this is by far the biggest bee i’ve ever been in. I’ts the biggest bee ANYONE’s ever been in. and OMG I am so nervous. and this is the end I promise.
Have fun. And don’t expect anything of yourself. That’s worked for me, at least. I wish you the best possible luck in the spelling bee, though. I’m sure you’ll do fine. If you don’t, it’s not important. And at least you got to spend time in Washington.
Good luck. And don’t mess up on easy words. Obvious, but you’ll hate yourself for it. Spelling bees are fun, because you get to listen to other people make silly mistakes. Of course, those mistakes are also painful (how could they be so clueless?!?). Once again, good luck. Goodbye (for now) and thanks for all the- *tries to think of if emmatheduck ever pied everyon* Oh, whatever. Goodbye (for now), and thanks for all the thought.
SENDS YOU SO MANY SPELLING PIES!!!!!
I can’t help it! I’m remembering and Ed Edd N Eddy episode where Edd doesn’t win the spelling bee to his friend (Ed) who is considered the lowest of the low point average, like –15000000000 or something like that. Well, anyways he gets really upset because now everyone goes to Ed (the dumb-ish one) for homework help. Eventually they all fail and demand a money return from Eddy (the money crazy one who exploited Ed’s knowledge for cash) and yeah… So Edd (the smart one) sort of gets his revenge without doing anything.
GOOD LUCK SO MUCH EMMA!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU TURN OUT LIKE ED!!!!!
I mean, well not at the end but at the end of the bee anyways! (Well, he won by spelling Gravy…)
Anyways VERY GOOD LUCK I WILL BE WATCHING YEAHHHH!!!
(Yes I have up to something like 78 channels. O_o )
I tried to stop by the hotel to catch part of the preliminary rounds on the way to work, but it turns out not to be open to the public. There were dozens of people sitting on the floor waiting to go through three metal detectors. It looked like an airport, only slower. Well, this is Washington.
The good news is that the store in the hotel lobby has a big selection of Godiva chocolates (bars and boxes) right beside the door. So if etd needs a pick-me-up between rounds, she knows where to go.
I’m pleased to report that Emma correctly spelled her word in round 2 of the oral preliminaries.
I don’t know how she did on the written test, but it looks like a killer. “Peirastic”? “Bewusstseinslage“?! Where do they get these words? For the record, here’s the whole written test, as recorded on the spelling bee’s Web site:
ok, most of what Robert said is right, but there’s no such thing as the second oral round of the preliminaries. The preliminaries is just one oral round and the written test. The oral round was pretty easy and almost everyone spelled their words right. Mine was shepherd. And I got 18 on the written test, so 18 plus three points for the oral round gives me a total preliminary score of 21, Which was the cutoff for last year, so I’m really borderline. People seem to be sayng it was harder than last year, so if that’s true I probably qualified for the quarterfinals, but I won’t know for sure for about an hour and a half. waiting to find out is almost as bad as actually being in the bee. I think I probably made it though. but i don’t know. I’ll try to post when I know.
Oh and robert, thanks for coming by, but yeah there’s the stupid security things and I think there’s limited space in the ballroom anyway. And I did see the chocolate, but really it’s probably not a good idea to eat candyish things during a spelling bee. I’ve got lots of carrots though.
Yipe. I’m dead. I’ll never get into a spelling bee. What do these words even mean?
Oh. *is grumpy* Of course, the dictionary wouldn’t have them. *mimics* that word can be found on Merriam-Webster unabridged *stops mimicking* Which, naturally, you have to buy.
50-lol, i hate how the online m-w does that. fortunately I have the CD-rom version though. And it doesn’t really matter if you know what they mean, since you can ask for that if you want to know. in a spelling bee i mean.
And Robert, mom saw what you wrote about trying to get in and said we can give you a wristband if you want to get in tomorrow.
COME ON, EVERYBODY!!! CONGRADULATE HER!!! POST LIKE MAD!!! SHE GOT PAST THE FIRST ROUND!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!
POUR OUT THE ENCOURAGEMENT!!! LOTS OF IT!!! BRING IT ALL OUT!!! EMMA, YOU HAVE TONS OF FANS ALL BEHIND YOU!!!!
WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT
Well, I know Melvil Dewey spelled things phonetically, but I didn’t know that about Ronald Reagan. Huh. If a guy’s going to be president he should at least know how to spell enough.
I love spelling. How could anyone not love spelling?
Yes, I’m being ignorant and close-minded. But I love to spell.
lol yes, the protesters are funny. I don’t thoink they’re really serious, because they congratulated me for being in the bee and let mom take a picture of me with them. They’re actually amazingly nice for spelling-haters.
but anyway, they just announced, the cutoff was 21, same as last year, and also what i got, so I qualified. So now it’s down to 107 kids I think. And i’m absolutely ecstatic. I’ll post again later today to say if i’m still in for tomorrow. It’s just two more rounds so i could be, but probably not. Still, I now have avaguely realistic chance at TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry about that. I’m excited.
Good luck, emmatheduck!
When I was in third grade, I won my K-5 school’s spelling bee, which annoyed a lot of adults. I was homeschooled at the time, see, so they had to redo the semifinalists so a person who actually went to the school would win. I was allowed to go to regionals, but I spelled “talon” wrong in the third round because I was scared. Oh well.
GOOOOOOOOO EMMA!!!! WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT GET IN THE TOP 50!!! THE TOP 10!!! THE TOP 3!!!! THE TOP 1!!!! GOOOOOOOO EMMA!!! ALL OF MUSEBLOG IS ROOTING FOR YOU!!! CONGRADULATIONS!!!! YOU GET TO BE ON TV!!! GO GO GO!!! SPELL SPELL SPELL!!! WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT GO GO GO!!! GOOOOOOO EMMA!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE SO GOING TO WIN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EMMMMMMMMMMMMA!!!!!!!!! SENDING YOU BILLIONS OF CONGRATULATION AND GOOD LUCK PIES, PLUS, IF YOU LOSE, DON’T WORRY!!!!!!!!! I AM ALSO SENDING AN ARMY OF HPBs SO YOU CAN ATTACK THE JUDGES IF THEY SAY YOU ARE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!
Yay for Emma!! I wish you lots and lots and lots of good luck!!!!!!!!! You must be really smart to be able to spell all those words, half of which I don’t know the meaning of!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When spelled phonetically (oh, geez, I can’t even spell that-ironic) my post looks like this:
Yay fr Ma!! I wish u lots nd lots and lots of gud luk!!!!!!!!!!! U must b relly smrt to b abl to spll all those wrds, half f wich I dnt no the mening f!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If we all spelled like that nobody would know what we were saying and people in other countries would think everyone is not very smart. hehe
Awesome, Emma! Good luck! The Power of the Capitalized Words is with you! Fight! Win!
By the way, according to the almighty dictionary.com,
rec·on·dite /ˈrɛkənˌdaɪt, rɪˈkɒndaɪt/ [rek-uhn-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt]
–adjective
1. dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise.
2. beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.
3. little known; obscure: a recondite fact.
GOOOOO EMMA!!!!!!! MUSEBLOG IS ROOTING FOR YOU! HOORAY!!!!!!!! GO, GO, GO!!!!!!!!! JOY OF JOYS! IT’S GREAT TO KNOW SOMEONE AS SMART AS YOU! SEPLL THOS WORS RITE! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But yes, I will be on ESPN. And yes, I got easy words, especially in round 4 I knew well under half of them but fortunately i had studied zwieback. I know by now you’re all starting to think i’ve just been overly pessimistic, but seriously i’ve just been really ucky and will probably go out pretty quickl tomorrow. I could even plausibly be the frst one to misspell on TV. Wouldn’t that be fun but really, i’m just happy I’m here. I don’t even want to win, after hearing about what it’s like. if you win, you get interviewed till past midninght, then get about 4 hours of sleep, if you aren’t too excited to get to sleep, than have an absolutely completely full day of interviews the next day. So I almost definitely won’t even get to the championship finals (the ABC part) and i’m just fine with that. Anyway, I should really get to sleep.
zwieback! mein pater and i were very impressed with that one. we looked up the dispatch-sponsored person (dad works there), and she had misspelled something easy that i forget, but she did able instead of ible. but she was like me and didn’t study. ha, i remember my spelling bee days…i basically got to regionals and quit, because all i wanted was the free craig’s cruisers party w/my friend who went to a diff skool.
anyhoo, i’m totally going to figure out when i can watch bits of it and watch Mostly Harmless in effect! you should totally put pwt pwns on your nametag or something good luck! (for the third or fourth time, but lots of luck is always good :D)
89- -able/-ible gets a lot of people, including me. It can be tricky. An everyday word isn’t necessarily an easy-to-spell one.
Anyway, I probably won’t be posting again until late today, or maybe not even then if I do really well….which is unlikey, but I’ve given up on convincing you all….
also, I’ve been meaning to tell you that there is at least one other muse-reader still in the bee. Her name is Rose, though I don’t remember her peller number. Just thought you might want to know that she reads muse too and there could be others, but Rose is the only one who commented when I was carrying them Muse around on Tuesday.
hey. we’ve been watching for a while, but we thought it started at ten and for us it actually started at nine. we’ve been watching and waiting to find out if she’s still in but we probably wont know til this round is over. She’s number 14 and there’s a lot of info on the bee website if anyone wants to know what she looks like. can i give a link, GAPAs? thanks. here’s the spelling link… [Sorry! The GAPAs are unusually link-averse this week. –Robert]
and they just said there were 42 spellers left! this has to be a sign!
Ooooh…. the site says emma got out on ‘gardez,’ which she spelled ‘guardet.’ Sounds like a hearing error to me, but oh well. YAY EMMA!! You got so far!
I assume that “gardez” means “you guard” in French. Apparently it’s also used in English.
Those French are some tricky people, oui? In French words that end with an “ay” sound can spell that sound about seventy-five and a half different ways, so it’s not at all surprising that Emma got confused.
Gardez is apparently also the capital of the Paktia province in Afghanistan, although presumably Emma asked the language of origin and knew to spell so Frenchly.
The Muse curse has struck again. A girl from North Carolina was eliminated when she misspelled Terpsichore, the ancient Greek muse of dance.
And this just in: Samir Patel, last year’s a former second-place finisher and widely considered this year’s favorite, has just been eliminated on the word “clevis.”
There were a lot of French words early in the round. I complained about that to Paul Baker, who put it into perspective in his inimitable fashion:
Maister, tis a question of aucthoritee. Ther is certayne of theese childer as are bicom so perfect in theyre spelyng (as it seemeth theyre Inquisitors) that there is not enough wordes in al Englande, nor in the Collonies neyther, to try them wel or give them anie laboure. Wherefore they must perforce borrow wordes out of Fraunce, or Alamanye, or Spayne, for to make them sweat at yt. Fie! Tis al false, and they had beter learne Chandlerye, or Astrologye, or anie thing of greter worth than Spelyng. Yet it preventeth them descendyng to idlenesse and vice; and wee muste rejoyce in smal mercies.
109 – Hahaha. Good point. Some kids are downright obsessed with spelling that they look to other languages for new material!
SHEEEE WAAAAAAASSSSS ELLLLIIIIIIMMMMIIINNNNATTTTTTEEDDDD!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
IF SHE HAD WON, SHE COULD HAVE SAID ON NATIONAL TELEVISION HOW COOL MUSEBLOG IS AND THEN THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD KNOW!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
All right, all right. We’ll bend our rules this once. It’s www. spellingbee. com .
I’m not sure it’s possible to tell where Emma finished numerically. 286 spellers started round 2. By round 5, the number was down to 59 spellers; 26 were eliminated, including Emma. So she’s tied for 27th through 59th place, no?
Now, if the publishers had been on the ball, they’d have left piles of free Muses lying around for the participants to take. They’d have got a hundred new subscriptions just like that. But I suppose most of the spellers have been too nervous to read anything except dictionaries this week…
(125) Oh, gosh, I love to read dictionaries! I can’t look up one word without looking up fifty. My favorites are the ones that have good etymological information, the Oxford English especially, because it tracks a word’s meanings over the centuries and illustrates those usages with good quotations. Then there are all the lovely specialized dictionaries: for professions, foreign languages, slang….
Of course, this is a longstanding disease with me. When I was little, the first book I picked out by myself to buy was a child’s guide to etymology.
Have you ever played Dictionary? (Also known as Balderdash). It’s ever so fun, and you learn lots of good words that you then can’t remember the real definition of because your brain is addled with fake definitions.
(129) Me too! I have always loved dictionaries and in my spare time at school I have been down to thumb through them, marking down new words. Needless to say I have gotten a lot of sideways glances.
Congratulations Emma! Just getting to be a part of that is an honor!
You got out, Emma? NOOOOO!!! I am so sorry!!! I guess the HPBs didn’t get there in time! It is all my fault! I am so sorry! Still, you did a FANTASTIC JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you! And top 59 in the country? Wow!! THAT IS SO COOL!!! I know I’d never even be able to be in the Spelling Bee at all. GOOD JOB EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To those of you who are disappointed and/or surprised that I went out, I did try as hard as I could ever since I first mentioned i was going to nationals to convince you all not to expect me to do well. i had good luck in the quarterfinals and did way better than expected, so I’m really happy. i’m also totally amazed to have tied with Samir Patel, who was definitely expected to win by just about everyone. And he went out on a word that i could hae spelled, and almost everyone I talked to could have too. There was like a really loud gasp from probably absolutely everyone in the room when he went out. I kind of feel sorry for him. This is his fifth year here (he’s the ony fifth-timer this year) and he actually got 3rd in his first year in 2003, which was absolutely amazing because he was only 9, then two years later the got 2nd….and this was his last chance, and eeryone thought he would win, and this was his worst performance ever.
I have way more to say, but I guess i’ll finish later or tomorrow, we have to go down and get good seats for wtching the finals.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY FOR EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know a guy (he’s homeschooled,btw) and he went to the spelling bee too, but he didn’t make it pas the preliminaries. I didn’t know it was on tv or that Emma was in it or else i would have watched it. Oh well.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAY EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Top 59! that’s pretty good!
I wish there was a picture somewhere of Emma standing up there spelling one of those words right. We don’t get cable, so I didn’t see her on tv either, but it’s just as well… I would have kicked it.
150 ~ That was exactly my reaction! I was like “Aw, Emma got out…those damn French words, though…wow, she did great…” Cause you know, you can’t think just one thing at once. And then I was scrolling through the page and I saw that Samir was out. And clevis! Wow!
So, I know I’ve sent you about a million emails, but another big congratulations to ya, Emma!
Oooh, Emma! You just lived my dream! You were great. It’s incredible how far you got.
In school about 40 people joined the spelling bee, and 30 of them got out on carburetor before I spelled it correctly :). I purposely came in second on oregano.
Congrats! It’s really a big achievement to get as far as you did.
I don’t know. The kid himself said he made a mistake on an easy word, so I really don’t know what there is to appeal. Check out cnn . com (not a link because I know the GAPAs don’t like links).
Anyway, this guy is the one Emma tied with. Impressive. V-e-r-y i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-v-e!!!
I thought that they had already agreed it was a technicality. He said something about them pronouncing the word wrong, but truly I bet he would have missed it anyway. he got a standing ovation.
I wasn’t near a TV tonight, so I followed the bee via my little Treo on the spelling bee website. Exciting finish! All the 15 finalists sounded Museworthy. The second-place finisher, Nat Gartke from Alberta, Canada, was behind me in line at the sandwich shop on Wednesday. We had a brief chat, but it was clear that he was keyed up and didn’t feel like talking. I liked his parents. Still, it’s nice that a Californian took first prize.
a) those words are cool words
b) your picture is pretty, Emma! You didn’t look like I expected you to, though. Mind you, I don’t exactly know what I expected.
NOOOOOO!!! All the May threads have been shut down!!! (I know this isn’t the place to post this, but the place that is appropriate for it is shut down.)
No, I don’t have feathers in my human form. When I was a duck I did. But that was years ago.
Anyway, I’ve just spent the last couple hours with Robert (I hope that turns into a smily thingy.) It was fun. I even got to see him moderate. But he typed his password too fast for me to see it, unfortunately. And we got pie! it was sliced, though, o we couldn’t really throw itvery well, so we ended up just eating it…but it was fun. And my typing is horrible. and btw, if you make a completely off-topic post the GAPAs won’t know because when they moderate the posts they can’t see what thread they’re on. And…..what else what else what else……well, ’twas froody. very froody.
After we finished our main courses, I said, “Shall we order apple pie for dessert?”
Emma: “WHAT?!” [Wide-eyed with disbelief.] “Pies aren’t for EATING!”
Robert: “Well, technically, no. But they cut them up here, you see. Once a pie has been butchered like that, there’s not much you can do with it except eat it, I’m afraid.”
191-I don’t think that’s exactly how the conversation went. Did I really say “what a waste”? Pretty close, though.
192-Not sure if it’ll get on youtube, but there will probaby be reruns.
188-(Emma)I’m sure he typed it fast-from practice AND to keep you from seeing it!!!
Sorry you couldn’t throw the pie, but I don’t think Robert would enjoy REAL pies being thrown!!!
But wait-GAPAs you really can’t see what thread the comments are going to??? Can you comment while in the moderating program, or do you have to go out onto the blog, comment, and go back to moderate it?
(188) We can tell which thread they’re bound for, but it takes an extra click.We’re usually working pretty fast and don’t bother. And we can comment from within the moderating program.
194-actually, he said that there will probably be actual pieing involved in the august kokonvention(s). I REALLY want to go to those. It sounds so froody,
196-that’s what I meant.
I talked to Rose again last night, and i’m pretty sure I talked her into coming here. She won’t be back home until Sunday, though.
I also talked to Sarah and she had never heard of muse. I didn’t really have a chance to discuss it with her, but I think my parents told hers about it. She definitely seems like a potential muser. i’ve never heard her talk about herself in the third person though.
Who, me? No, I’m in the other Washington, the one with the White House and Congress and all the marble monuments. Rosanne lives in the San Francisco Bay area, though, and Larry Gonick is in San Francisco.
200, 201, 202- If we could somehow arrange to have a kokonvention at a time when I was already going down there . . . . which will probably be in two years or some other interminably long time. Oh, drat.
hey, we might be going to DC sometime this summer. we’re going to virginia, but dad wants to stop by there and look at purdy buildings. he’s a huge history geek who loves architecture, DC is pretty much his life in a nutshell.
207-He definitely knew it. It was in the frequent section of the cwl, and one of few words in the finals that I actually knew. It’s rather odd, but winning words usually seem to be annoyingly easy compared to the other words at the end of the bee. (btw, “that guy” is Evan O’Dorney and “the word” was serrefine.
208-Rosanne is in california somewhere, but Northern I think.
210-That’s why I’m annoyed that there aren’t more, because there should be.
Okay, well, I don’t know C++darkmage’s name, but I know yours and giminator’s. But I thought . . . Oh never mind, I haven’t time. I thought that C++darkmage’s name might have been revealed on the Pie War, when you were all talking about stuff and not pieing each other, but I guess not.
217- Script Frenzy. Or San Fransisco, if you want to look at it that way.
58 – I doubt that Reagan spelled “enough” as “enuf” because he was ignorant of the conventional way of spelling it – more likely I’d guess that he simply felt that “enuf” (along with “burocrat” and “burocracy”, which I’ve heard he used in place of “bureaucrat” and “bureaucracy”) seemed more logical, since it obeys English alphabetic principles more closely.
It’s also my impression that a number of pro-reformers are desirous not for our orthography to be made phonetic as such but rather for at least some of its divergent spellings (“friend” being a good example, since everyone seems to rhyme it with “trend”) to be brought into line with pre-existing dominant patterns – the idea being that it should make English less of a headache to learn and teach to read and write in and (with a bit of luck) help bring down levels of illiteracy in English-speaking nations.
222-“English alphabetic principles”? Sorry, but I have spent a lot of time studying English spelling, and it doesn’t have any principles. English is completely unprincipled (but we love it anyway).
And I don’t understand the difference between spelling friend as frend and making it phonetic. Isn’t frend the phonetic spelling?
223 – My reference to “alphabetic principles” was an allusion to patterns that strike me as being most dominant. For example, while “pant” could in theory be rhymed with “tent” (i.e. with its “a” sounding like that in “many”) for all the reader would know if he/she were familiar with written and spoken English but not this particular word, the chances are still that it would be pronounced the way it really is.
And you’re right needless to say that “frend” is almost certainly how “friend” would be spelled if our orthography had a phonetic overhaul, but it is also I can imagine how the word would emerge if the reform were a more moderate one that involved reducing its irregularities as opposed to revamping the whole system.
Any reason you picked this particular blog to comment on our wonderfully esoteric language? Just asking, because the usual frequenters of this blog tend to be younger, and your lexicon demonstrates your either very well read or not a teenager.
226-You might be the first person ever to post on MB who hasn’t read Muse. How old are you? but I guess a newbie is a newbie, so *pies Jon*
231-I told you all i wouldn’t, and I said that I really didn’t want people to think I would because I didn’t want to feel like I was disappointing others. If you didn’t listen to me and assumed i would win, i’m sorry. I really did my best to make you understand that it was higly unlikely for me to do really well. I’m happy with how it turned out, but I really wish other people would be too rather than act disappointed in me because I didn’t win.
234- 286, but that’s assuming it was random. Really different people have way different chances, so it’s much more complicated.
236-I know the winner too! or I met him at least. And all the other spellers.
Emma, you did awesome! All of the people who acted all dissapointed obviously never got as far as you did. It’s amzing to get such a cool opporunity. Unleash the hPB’S upon all who disagree!
242-Have you ever seen the words in the national spelling bee, especially the later rounds? Do you relly think it should be taken for granted that the average American can spell all those words? Can you?
Well, that’s the point, isn’t it? The average American is illiterate. The average American should be able to do just fine in the spelling bee, because the average American should be literate. However, they aren’t, and therefore they have to come up with a reason to learn spelling.
244-Again, do you really think the normal American should be expected to spel words like the ones used on the national spelling bee? And can you spell them? literate is one thing, and i agree that it would be nice if more people were literate. But national spelling bee is far beyond normal literacy.
Spelling bees are a way for extremely good spellers to get recognized. America is by no means an illiterate country! It’s literacy rate is quite high compared to the rest of the world, too! Corrective spelling is taken for granted in the US, and then there are competitions that ask kids how to spell words people just about never use as a true test of skill!
I think Glassboro is trying to say the average American should be able to spell the words used in the National Spelling Bee. Glassboro, unless you can spell every word they give, I wouldn’t be pushing this position. FS, I doubt that you would be able to spell these words either, so lay off. These competitions pick the most obscure and byzantine words they can find, words that are not in the lexicon of even the most educated people in any english speaking country, not just the US. It’s just fun, and very few people actually participate in these competitions. People compete in tons of venues. If you want to challenge ridiculous sporting ventures, try eating contests.
232-no, there have been a few others. usually searching for the band, or kokopelli or something.
go emma! have i said that since you got back? oh well.
hey, the spelling bee people gave me and my friend free parties at craig’s cruisers for three years (the only reason i was actually in it…ssh :D). they can’t be that bad, huh?
253- Just picking some random words here off the website, how about amphipneustic? Bouleuterion? Abseil? There are many more on the website, and I, as a fairly good speller, know I couldn’t make it past round one or two. Google “national spelling bee” and look at the round results. They don’t give easy words, despite what Emma says, she’s very good.
254-thank you
of those three, i don’t even remember the first two from the bee, but I had studied abseil, which is particularly odd because the b sounds more like a p. it’s pronounced basically like AP-zile or something like that. Oh and btw, how about gardez? that has a silent z!
I’m Rose from the spelling bee. I remember those three, but I definitely couldn’t spell bouleuterion. I had studied abseil and I knew the roots to amphipneustic, so I might have gotten that. I could only have gotten about 2 words in round 7.
Be happy you didn’t win, Emma. I remember you saying that it sounded like a nightmare on Wednesday night after they told us that if you won you would have to do a ton of interviews, sleep for about 2 hours, and then do some more interviews.
263-lol yes. I did. I think i actually said I didn’t even want to make the championship finals and I briefly considered purposely misspelling my last word of the semifinals if i was still in so I wouldn’t hae to do all that….but of course, I didn’t last that long.
264-No one got 73rd place. Or anything between 60th and 95th.
I notice that this thread is dead, but I thought I might mention that this year’s National Spelling Bee is Thursday and Friday next week. A new thread might be nice…
Oh, how cool! Yes, emma, how’s it going?
Here’s the schedule:
Competition Day One: Wednesday, May 30
The Preliminaries (Rounds One and Two):
8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT
The Quarterfinals (Rounds Three and Four):
2:00 to 5:30 p.m. EDT
Competition Day Two: Thursday, May 31
The Semifinals
(Presented by LeapFrog live on ESPN):
10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EDT
The Championship Finals (Live on ABC):
8:00 to 10:00 p.m. EDT
I wish I could be in it! Good luck, emmatheduck!
GOOD LUCK EMMA! I SEND YOU THE GREATEST SPELLING PIE THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!
ps:if you win thank your mb buddies!
4-Well, we didn’t do anything…
Good luck!!! You’d better get to the finals, so we can see you on TV! Lol!
May the bunnies be with you (normally, I wouldn’t wish this fate on a mosquito, but this is not a normal situation, and, for reasons of mere public image, I’m sure the bunnies can make an exception in their nature)!!!
:idea::idea::idea:
Good luck emma!
I remember watching “spellbound” in the theaters. It looks really, REALLY tough.
Drat! I don’t have a TV.
If she makes it to the finals someone will have to record it and put it on youtube so that I can watch it.
Good luck!! I’d send you all my mad spelling skills, but they’re in the negatives so I’d better not.
If you make it to tv I’ll look out for you!
7 – You don’t have access to TV, but you have access to YouTube?
I don’t have access to TV. I can’t even go on Youtube. All I have is MuseFanPage and Google.
If emma wins I will go ballistic.
Bee stats:
There are 286 competitors, ranging from age 10 to 15, of which 139 are boys and 147 are girls.
Two of the competitors are in 4th grade, 23 in 5th, 36 in 6th, 88 in 7th, and 137 in 8th.
Schooling background: 192 from public schools, 38 private, 36 home, 14 parochial, 5 charter, and 1 virtual.
Whoa. That’s detailed. What grade is emmatheduck in?
11 – Why more girls?
What is virtual schooling?
9- We have computers and DSL, but we don’t have cable TV. We can watch movies, but that’s all.
Maybe the GAPAs can put the movie on MB like they did when The Skipper Nancy was in a parade-type thing.
The spelling bee is in a hotel a block away from my office. Last year there were protesters outside carrying signs calling for phonetic spelling.
13- it’s like an online school; I have a friend who goes to one. They have classes, lectures, etc, but it’s all through a chatroom-type setting.
15 – Wow. You’re close to it.
Arg we don’t get abc (it’s just a lot of static) and we don’t have cable. I hope she wins because then she might be on a station I can watch on our old screen receiving signals from an antenna sitting on top of the tv itself. *checks for spelling errors*
9-umm thats kinda… authoritarian of your parents, no?
13-its barely more girls. not significantly more.
14-ditto. except cable internet.
and umm. good luck. i saw spellbound too, and it looks pretty scary. especially the Indian kid who had like a thousand people praying for him to win.
We only get about 2 channels…I think PBS and KDKA or something. But I’m definitely watching it on YouTube! And it would be even better if the GAPAs could post it!
Haha…that reminds me! Remember the movie the GAPAs posted of Robert and Rosanne? (a picture attempt gone wrong)
www. youtube .com/watch?v=lhxYoieBpi4
a link to a thing about a competetor for you emma, he has brittle bone disease! the video explains it.
(pretty please gapas, it is educational about a disease and gives emma some competition)
Good luck with the spelling bee!!!! I almost got to state’s last year but I messed up on umm… I think it was leutenit. I still cant spell it.
15- Oh, I wish I had seen that…
22-Lieutenant?
Good luck Emma! We’re all rooting for you!
20-I found that one time looking through old threads!!!
23-You’re right! *sends you off to da spelling bee*
GOOD LUCK EMMA!!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! I HOPE YOU WIN!!! YOU WILL DO GREAT!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!
Lieutenant. Lieutenant. Lieutenant. I’m drilling it into my brain so someday I can win a spelling bee. Lieutenant. Electricity. (A few years ago about five people went out on that one.)
23-Yeah.
27-You better! I can spell electricity, though.
*SENDS THE BIGGEST PIE EVER TO EMMA WHO IS GOING TO WIN YEAYEAYEA YIPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!*
go emma goooooo oemma!
i wish i knew her real name so i could see if she won! i actually tried out for the national geographic bee; only got to the school finals. i hope she wins, though!
Her real name IS Emma. I think.
I new someone named Emma before, but that was, um, something like four or five years ago so I have no idea if that Emma even likes Muse.
*SendzanothersuperbigpietosendherzoomingthroughthespellingbeeandwinyayayayayayyayaYAYAYAYAYAYYAAYYAAYAYYYAAYAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
But wouldn’t we hear her last name if we saw her on TV? *gasps in horror*
Rendezvous. (That’s a rather hard one. It’s easy to forget the z.)
Um, yea, we would.
But then I would know if she’s the same Emma I knew!!! *one chance in twelve billion*
Emma is a very popular name.
And if I ever, by some obscure chance, publish The Makepeace War (or anything else) before I am eighteen, you would know my last name. *gasp*
I don’t really worry about stalkers, though.
Wow, a thread about me!
Thank you all who wished me luck, pied me, etc.
Spelling will begin just a little under twelve hours from now. I am nervous. I will try to keep you all posted on how I do, which isn’t likely to be very well (and please don’t tell me that’s not true, because really it is. I could get lucky and make it to TV, but that’s pretty unlikely). And winning is impossible. There are so many kids here who are way, way, way better than me. Samir Patel will probably win. And there’s a five-year-old here who can spell humuhumunukunukuapuaa faster than I can. She not a speller, just a speller’s little sister, but I bet she’ll be like the 2015 champion or some time around then. And I’m really babbling now, aren’t I? So I should stop. I need to get to slepp anyway. I have to be down there like 6:30 tomorrow. Bee week has been really fun so far, running around putting Ws on sno(w) cones and such but as of this evening it’s horrible, I am so nervous, I feel sorry for anyone who actually bothered to read this entire post, most of which is completely pointless but hopefully the PoPoPo will go easy on me since I’m nervous. And if they try to fine me choklit instead of chocolate I will…..aaah i can’t think of a good word. But i will be furious. Anyway. I should stop. I’ll post tomorrow as soon as I can to tell you how I did. bye.
oh and btw, here’s a weird word for you i just learned a few days ago from fellow spellers. bhutatathata. really fun to say over and over. Anyway, I’m really stopping now. This is totally babbling. I’m always like this before spelling bees. and this is by far the biggest bee i’ve ever been in. I’ts the biggest bee ANYONE’s ever been in. and OMG I am so nervous. and this is the end I promise.
Well, good luck! Even if you don’t win, I hope you get very far and have lots of fun!
I know you told me not to, but that isn’t true! YOU ARE SO GOING TO BEAT EVERY OTHER SPELLER OUT THERE AND MAKE IT SO FAR, EVEN IF YOU DON’T WIN!!!!
All right Emma!
YOU GO, GIRL! THE MUSEBLOG IS BEHIND YOU!!!!
I’ll look for the coolest competitor–the one from MUSE. Come on, Emma–WOOT!
Have fun. And don’t expect anything of yourself. That’s worked for me, at least. I wish you the best possible luck in the spelling bee, though. I’m sure you’ll do fine. If you don’t, it’s not important. And at least you got to spend time in Washington.
40-My mom (reading over my shoullder) said that is exactly right. But I don’t but thanks. to everyone. Must go.
Good luck. And don’t mess up on easy words. Obvious, but you’ll hate yourself for it. Spelling bees are fun, because you get to listen to other people make silly mistakes. Of course, those mistakes are also painful (how could they be so clueless?!?). Once again, good luck. Goodbye (for now) and thanks for all the- *tries to think of if emmatheduck ever pied everyon* Oh, whatever. Goodbye (for now), and thanks for all the thought.
HAhah I’m so excited I read her entire post!
*SENDS TWELVE-HUNDRED TRILLION BILLION TRILLION PIES OF GOOD LUCK TO THE GREATEST SPELLER EVER, EMMA PIES AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!*
*gasp pantpant*
RtH the Excited
GOOD LUCK EMMATHEDUCK!
:mrgreen:-Agrrrfishi
SENDS YOU SO MANY SPELLING PIES!!!!!
I can’t help it! I’m remembering and Ed Edd N Eddy episode where Edd doesn’t win the spelling bee to his friend (Ed) who is considered the lowest of the low point average, like –15000000000 or something like that. Well, anyways he gets really upset because now everyone goes to Ed (the dumb-ish one) for homework help. Eventually they all fail and demand a money return from Eddy (the money crazy one who exploited Ed’s knowledge for cash) and yeah… So Edd (the smart one) sort of gets his revenge without doing anything.
GOOD LUCK SO MUCH EMMA!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU TURN OUT LIKE ED!!!!!
I mean, well not at the end but at the end of the bee anyways! (Well, he won by spelling Gravy…)
Anyways VERY GOOD LUCK I WILL BE WATCHING YEAHHHH!!!
(Yes I have up to something like 78 channels. O_o )
I tried to stop by the hotel to catch part of the preliminary rounds on the way to work, but it turns out not to be open to the public. There were dozens of people sitting on the floor waiting to go through three metal detectors. It looked like an airport, only slower. Well, this is Washington.
The good news is that the store in the hotel lobby has a big selection of Godiva chocolates (bars and boxes) right beside the door. So if etd needs a pick-me-up between rounds, she knows where to go.
Update:
I’m pleased to report that Emma correctly spelled her word in round 2 of the oral preliminaries.
I don’t know how she did on the written test, but it looks like a killer. “Peirastic”? “Bewusstseinslage“?! Where do they get these words? For the record, here’s the whole written test, as recorded on the spelling bee’s Web site:
1. icicle
2. hawthorn
3. bizarre
4. colossus
5. tarantula
6. ciao
7. malocclusion
8. succorance
9. demur
10. solmizate
11. mien
12. Ananias
13. takt
14. halobiont
15. peirastic
16. retablo
17. Tetrazzini
18. haricot
19. syssarcosis
20. vernier
21. quale
22. noesis
23. scytale
24. ylem
25. Bewusstseinslage
ok, most of what Robert said is right, but there’s no such thing as the second oral round of the preliminaries. The preliminaries is just one oral round and the written test. The oral round was pretty easy and almost everyone spelled their words right. Mine was shepherd. And I got 18 on the written test, so 18 plus three points for the oral round gives me a total preliminary score of 21, Which was the cutoff for last year, so I’m really borderline. People seem to be sayng it was harder than last year, so if that’s true I probably qualified for the quarterfinals, but I won’t know for sure for about an hour and a half. waiting to find out is almost as bad as actually being in the bee. I think I probably made it though. but i don’t know. I’ll try to post when I know.
Oh and robert, thanks for coming by, but yeah there’s the stupid security things and I think there’s limited space in the ballroom anyway. And I did see the chocolate, but really it’s probably not a good idea to eat candyish things during a spelling bee. I’ve got lots of carrots though.
Yipe. I’m dead. I’ll never get into a spelling bee. What do these words even mean?
Oh. *is grumpy* Of course, the dictionary wouldn’t have them. *mimics* that word can be found on Merriam-Webster unabridged *stops mimicking* Which, naturally, you have to buy.
*sends carrot pie* I hope you make it!
50-lol, i hate how the online m-w does that. fortunately I have the CD-rom version though. And it doesn’t really matter if you know what they mean, since you can ask for that if you want to know. in a spelling bee i mean.
And Robert, mom saw what you wrote about trying to get in and said we can give you a wristband if you want to get in tomorrow.
GOOOOOOOOO EMMATHEDUCK!!!! WINWINWIN!!!!
COME ON, EVERYBODY!!! CONGRADULATE HER!!! POST LIKE MAD!!! SHE GOT PAST THE FIRST ROUND!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!
POUR OUT THE ENCOURAGEMENT!!! LOTS OF IT!!! BRING IT ALL OUT!!! EMMA, YOU HAVE TONS OF FANS ALL BEHIND YOU!!!!
WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT
okay I’ll stop now
I see the spelling-reform picketers are back this year. A few of their signs:
ENGLISH SPELLING SPELLS TROUBLE
SENSIBLE SPELLING
GOOD ENUF FOR HIM – GOOD ENUF FOR US
[With a photo of President Ronald Reagan. Puzzling. Is that how Reagan spelled “enough”?]
TAKE THE STING OUT OF SPELLING
[With a cartoon picture of a bee — get it?]
Let’s end the “i” in “friend”? What’s that supposed to mean?
They think it should be spelled “frend.”
56 – Weird. It would have been more interesting if they had said “Let’s end the ‘r’ in ‘friend’!”
Well, I know Melvil Dewey spelled things phonetically, but I didn’t know that about Ronald Reagan. Huh. If a guy’s going to be president he should at least know how to spell enough.
I love spelling. How could anyone not love spelling?
Yes, I’m being ignorant and close-minded. But I love to spell.
lol yes, the protesters are funny. I don’t thoink they’re really serious, because they congratulated me for being in the bee and let mom take a picture of me with them. They’re actually amazingly nice for spelling-haters.
but anyway, they just announced, the cutoff was 21, same as last year, and also what i got, so I qualified. So now it’s down to 107 kids I think. And i’m absolutely ecstatic. I’ll post again later today to say if i’m still in for tomorrow. It’s just two more rounds so i could be, but probably not. Still, I now have avaguely realistic chance at TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry about that. I’m excited.
54- Oh god. I bet that makes for an interesting view though.
58- Because I’m bad at it, that’s why.
Yay emma!! Violetfire says congrats too!
Whee! I wish you luck (again)!
Have fun!
The latest: in Round 3, Emma has correctly spelled “recondite.”
Recondite, huh? Wonder what it means.
62- How do you know???
Good luck, emmatheduck!
When I was in third grade, I won my K-5 school’s spelling bee, which annoyed a lot of adults. I was homeschooled at the time, see, so they had to redo the semifinalists so a person who actually went to the school would win. I was allowed to go to regionals, but I spelled “talon” wrong in the third round because I was scared. Oh well.
9 – how is that even possible?
11 – ahm…virtual?
57 – they are under the impression that the contestants are fiends? ….weird…..
~~~~~~
“Emma is standing on stage, she’s about to say the letter that will win the championship, when suddenly…K-SPLAT!!!!!!!
GO EMMA!!! I am rooting for you! Good Luck! How does Robert find this stuff out so fast?
It’s on the Web.
67- He’s a block away from where the bee is taking place.
Oh, well I was wrong.
Emma passed round four! The word was zwieback. Good job! Does that mean you get to be on TV?
break a leg, emma!
YAY! Go EMMA!!!!
Congratulations!!
Wow! Good for you, Emma!
Congratz!! Zwieback? Well, anyway way to go!
62, 71 – Those are fairly easy words.
GOOOOOOOOO EMMA!!!! WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT GET IN THE TOP 50!!! THE TOP 10!!! THE TOP 3!!!! THE TOP 1!!!! GOOOOOOOO EMMA!!! ALL OF MUSEBLOG IS ROOTING FOR YOU!!! CONGRADULATIONS!!!! YOU GET TO BE ON TV!!! GO GO GO!!! SPELL SPELL SPELL!!! WIN IT WIN IT WIN IT GO GO GO!!! GOOOOOOO EMMA!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE DOING GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE SO GOING TO WIN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EMMMMMMMMMMMMA!!!!!!!!! SENDING YOU BILLIONS OF CONGRATULATION AND GOOD LUCK PIES, PLUS, IF YOU LOSE, DON’T WORRY!!!!!!!!! I AM ALSO SENDING AN ARMY OF HPBs SO YOU CAN ATTACK THE JUDGES IF THEY SAY YOU ARE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!!!!
Great Job Emma! We’re all following you on the web! Just remember, you’ve got all of us behind you! Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do great !
Wait, is she going to the semifinals? Emma, you’re going to be on ESPN! That’s awesome!
Good luck Emma, you’ve already done amazingly! Better than I ever would!
76: Well that’s ironic. It’s “congratulations”.
Yay for Emma!! I wish you lots and lots and lots of good luck!!!!!!!!! You must be really smart to be able to spell all those words, half of which I don’t know the meaning of!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When spelled phonetically (oh, geez, I can’t even spell that-ironic) my post looks like this:
Yay fr Ma!! I wish u lots nd lots and lots of gud luk!!!!!!!!!!! U must b relly smrt to b abl to spll all those wrds, half f wich I dnt no the mening f!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If we all spelled like that nobody would know what we were saying and people in other countries would think everyone is not very smart. hehe
64 (RtH)- Magic.
Awesome, Emma! Good luck! The Power of the Capitalized Words is with you! Fight! Win!
By the way, according to the almighty dictionary.com,
rec·on·dite /ˈrɛkənˌdaɪt, rɪˈkɒndaɪt/ [rek-uhn-dahyt, ri-kon-dahyt]
–adjective
1. dealing with very profound, difficult, or abstruse subject matter: a recondite treatise.
2. beyond ordinary knowledge or understanding; esoteric: recondite principles.
3. little known; obscure: a recondite fact.
So recondite is a recondite word.
80 – Oh phoo. I know how to spell congratulations. I just wasn’t paying attention.
Yup, she zoomed through round four. *SENDS HUGE PIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!*
Amazing.
*sends spelling snake* Alliteration, and a snake who can help you spell if you get stage fright!!!
Do you like chocolate? *sends some if you do*
GOOOOO EMMA!!!!!!! MUSEBLOG IS ROOTING FOR YOU! HOORAY!!!!!!!! GO, GO, GO!!!!!!!!! JOY OF JOYS! IT’S GREAT TO KNOW SOMEONE AS SMART AS YOU! SEPLL THOS WORS RITE! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When are they going to just come out and say she won?!?!?!?
The Impatient HAWK
81: I think you’re mixing up phonetic spelling and text messaging lingo. Or the Anti-Vowel Language.
86-never.
But yes, I will be on ESPN. And yes, I got easy words, especially in round 4 I knew well under half of them but fortunately i had studied zwieback. I know by now you’re all starting to think i’ve just been overly pessimistic, but seriously i’ve just been really ucky and will probably go out pretty quickl tomorrow. I could even plausibly be the frst one to misspell on TV. Wouldn’t that be fun
but really, i’m just happy I’m here. I don’t even want to win, after hearing about what it’s like. if you win, you get interviewed till past midninght, then get about 4 hours of sleep, if you aren’t too excited to get to sleep, than have an absolutely completely full day of interviews the next day. So I almost definitely won’t even get to the championship finals (the ABC part) and i’m just fine with that. Anyway, I should really get to sleep.
zwieback! mein pater and i were very impressed with that one. we looked up the dispatch-sponsored person (dad works there), and she had misspelled something easy that i forget, but she did able instead of ible. but she was like me and didn’t study. ha, i remember my spelling bee days…i basically got to regionals and quit, because all i wanted was the free craig’s cruisers party w/my friend who went to a diff skool.
anyhoo, i’m totally going to figure out when i can watch bits of it and watch Mostly Harmless in effect! you should totally put pwt pwns on your nametag or something
good luck! (for the third or fourth time, but lots of luck is always good :D)
YouTube will be a blessing.
89- -able/-ible gets a lot of people, including me. It can be tricky. An everyday word isn’t necessarily an easy-to-spell one.
Anyway, I probably won’t be posting again until late today, or maybe not even then if I do really well….which is unlikey, but I’ve given up on convincing you all….
and there could be others, but Rose is the only one who commented when I was carrying them Muse around on Tuesday.
also, I’ve been meaning to tell you that there is at least one other muse-reader still in the bee. Her name is Rose, though I don’t remember her peller number. Just thought you might want to know that she reads muse too
Just 59 spellers left in the contest as the semifinals open. Unfortunately, I can’t watch ESPN at work. Is anyone else following the round?
hey. we’ve been watching for a while, but we thought it started at ten and for us it actually started at nine. we’ve been watching and waiting to find out if she’s still in but we probably wont know til this round is over. She’s number 14 and there’s a lot of info on the bee website if anyone wants to know what she looks like. can i give a link, GAPAs? thanks. here’s the spelling link… [Sorry! The GAPAs are unusually link-averse this week. –Robert]
and they just said there were 42 spellers left! this has to be a sign!
EMMA DIDN’T MAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!
I think I’m going to cry.
But “gardez” isn’t in the dictionary!!! Wait a minute!!! Something’s fishy.
Ooooh…. the site says emma got out on ‘gardez,’ which she spelled ‘guardet.’ Sounds like a hearing error to me, but oh well. YAY EMMA!! You got so far!
*Dies* THIS_IS_TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!
What does “gardez’ mean?!?!?!!? ARg this is terrible.
According to the official website, Emma has misspelled “gardez” as “guardet.”
NUUUUUUU
Rose, the other Muser, also appears to be out.
Great job making it this far, though, to all Musers! (oh fine, and non-Musers too.)
I assume that “gardez” means “you guard” in French. Apparently it’s also used in English.
Those French are some tricky people, oui? In French words that end with an “ay” sound can spell that sound about seventy-five and a half different ways, so it’s not at all surprising that Emma got confused.
Gardez is apparently also the capital of the Paktia province in Afghanistan, although presumably Emma asked the language of origin and knew to spell so Frenchly.
I don’t think you should be expected to spell something right when it isn’t even in the dictionary!!!
My writer/editor mom doesn’t know what it means either.
Emma should sue.
WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD?!?!??!?!?!?
Are you dying GAPAs???
But it’s not in the dictionary!!! I thought they could only make you spell things that are in the dictionary!!! *kicks inside of coffin*
I can’t believe this! *spins in grave*
(102) Not every dictionary contains the same selection. The contest uses Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.
The Muse curse has struck again. A girl from North Carolina was eliminated when she misspelled Terpsichore, the ancient Greek muse of dance.
And this just in: Samir Patel,
last year’sa former second-place finisher and widely considered this year’s favorite, has just been eliminated on the word “clevis.”It’s been a bloodbath this morning, for sure.
Toughtoughtough. Makes me almost happy I don’t have a chance of having to go through all this. *shudder* Very brave of you, emma, very brave!
Well that’s too bad . . . But Emma got really, really far! Good job, Emma! I think I would have gone out on Peirastic.
There were a lot of French words early in the round. I complained about that to Paul Baker, who put it into perspective in his inimitable fashion:
Maister, tis a question of aucthoritee. Ther is certayne of theese childer as are bicom so perfect in theyre spelyng (as it seemeth theyre Inquisitors) that there is not enough wordes in al Englande, nor in the Collonies neyther, to try them wel or give them anie laboure. Wherefore they must perforce borrow wordes out of Fraunce, or Alamanye, or Spayne, for to make them sweat at yt. Fie! Tis al false, and they had beter learne Chandlerye, or Astrologye, or anie thing of greter worth than Spelyng. Yet it preventeth them descendyng to idlenesse and vice; and wee muste rejoyce in smal mercies.
106- I didn’t know they did names.
I must have found the wrong site. There is no Emma in the list of spellers.
111 – She was eliminated! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!
But what did she place? Does anybody know?
113- I would look it up but I got the wrong site. *huffy* And that list had everyone that started out. Number 14 was Christian someone or other.
Found her.
That was weird. I found it after all. Bizarre. It didn’t say what she placed.
109 – Hahaha. Good point. Some kids are downright obsessed with spelling that they look to other languages for new material!
SHEEEE WAAAAAAASSSSS ELLLLIIIIIIMMMMIIINNNNATTTTTTEEDDDD!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
IF SHE HAD WON, SHE COULD HAVE SAID ON NATIONAL TELEVISION HOW COOL MUSEBLOG IS AND THEN THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD KNOW!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
okay I didn’t really expect her to do that.
Practically all the comments on the recent comments sidebar are here!
EMMA LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
Maybe that was a little unfair.
SHE WAS PART OF THE 285 THAT WERE ELIMINATED!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
All right, all right. We’ll bend our rules this once. It’s www. spellingbee. com .
I’m not sure it’s possible to tell where Emma finished numerically. 286 spellers started round 2. By round 5, the number was down to 59 spellers; 26 were eliminated, including Emma. So she’s tied for 27th through 59th place, no?
I hope Emma told Rose about the blog.
120 – Who’s Rose?
Rose is another Muser whom Emma met at the bee.
Now, if the publishers had been on the ball, they’d have left piles of free Muses lying around for the participants to take. They’d have got a hundred new subscriptions just like that. But I suppose most of the spellers have been too nervous to read anything except dictionaries this week…
122 – Yea.
I like that idea, though. Next year, let’s ask the publishers about it.
Wow, congratulations, Emma. You did really really amazingly.
122- Have you ever tried reading the dictionary? It’s actually kind of fun.
I am so going to try to get into a spelling bee. Not the national one yet, but once I go to school it’ll be a lot easier.
124 – Yea. She got soooo far. If she’s one of the top 50 kid spellers in the nation….WOW! She’s got something to be proud of!
GOOOO EMMA!!!!!
125 – Usually I read encyclopedias instead. But those don’t help you with spelling nearly as much.
126 – There isn’t any sort of spelling bee at my school. And did you see? In the 286 competitors, 36 are homeschooled!
(125) Oh, gosh, I love to read dictionaries! I can’t look up one word without looking up fifty. My favorites are the ones that have good etymological information, the Oxford English especially, because it tracks a word’s meanings over the centuries and illustrates those usages with good quotations. Then there are all the lovely specialized dictionaries: for professions, foreign languages, slang….
Of course, this is a longstanding disease with me. When I was little, the first book I picked out by myself to buy was a child’s guide to etymology.
Have you ever played Dictionary? (Also known as Balderdash). It’s ever so fun, and you learn lots of good words
that you then can’t remember the real definition of because your brain is addled with fake definitions.(129) Me too! I have always loved dictionaries and in my spare time at school I have been down to thumb through them, marking down new words. Needless to say I have gotten a lot of sideways glances.
Congratulations Emma! Just getting to be a part of that is an honor!
131 – Are you the person from 122?
YAAAAAAAAAAY EMMA!!!!!! YOU GOT FARRRR!!!!
132- It does seem a happy coincidence, doesn’t it?
*pies bibloRose*
aw poop, Emma got out? Ah well at least she was on TV. Did anyone get a screenn-shot of her on ESPN?
*rushes to YouTube*
WordPress just went very weird on me.
Argh! YouTube has nothing! Not a single Scripps national spelling bee entry for 2007!
I missed it.
(132) No, I’m not. Also I meant for it to be biblio not biblo. Thanks for the pie.
137. are you emma’s friend she met at the bee?
138 – she already sed no.
Sorry! I feel like I’m disapointing everybody. Thank You supersaiyajin424.
Emma, you did great. I tivo’d it, and yelled at the tv when you got out. Remember, you made it to the top 59. In the entire country. That’s amazing.
140- You’re not disappointing me!
Uh-oh. That sounded kind of rude. What I meant was, I don’t care that you’re not the girl that Emma met at the bee.
And I pray that that didn’t also sound rude.
You got out, Emma? NOOOOO!!! I am so sorry!!! I guess the HPBs didn’t get there in time! It is all my fault! I am so sorry! Still, you did a FANTASTIC JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you! And top 59 in the country? Wow!! THAT IS SO COOL!!! I know I’d never even be able to be in the Spelling Bee at all. GOOD JOB EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
142/143- Don’t worry! That was very nice of you in fact. I understand what you meant.
Emma, you are AMAZING. Sorry you got out. But hey! You got there! That’s awesome!
*Dies a few more times*
Well, you got way farther than I would have, Emma!
YAY FOR EMMA!!! YOU MADE MUSERS PROUD!!!
Congrats Emma!!!
To those of you who are disappointed and/or surprised that I went out, I did try as hard as I could ever since I first mentioned i was going to nationals to convince you all not to expect me to do well. i had good luck in the quarterfinals and did way better than expected, so I’m really happy. i’m also totally amazed to have tied with Samir Patel, who was definitely expected to win by just about everyone. And he went out on a word that i could hae spelled, and almost everyone I talked to could have too. There was like a really loud gasp from probably absolutely everyone in the room when he went out. I kind of feel sorry for him. This is his fifth year here (he’s the ony fifth-timer this year) and he actually got 3rd in his first year in 2003, which was absolutely amazing because he was only 9, then two years later the got 2nd….and this was his last chance, and eeryone thought he would win, and this was his worst performance ever.
I have way more to say, but I guess i’ll finish later or tomorrow, we have to go down and get good seats for wtching the finals.
150 – WOW!!! YOU TIED THAT GUY!?!?!? *is blown away* What was the word he went out on?
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY FOR EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know a guy (he’s homeschooled,btw) and he went to the spelling bee too, but he didn’t make it pas the preliminaries. I didn’t know it was on tv or that Emma was in it or else i would have watched it. Oh well.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAY EMMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Top 59! that’s pretty good!
Yay Emma posted!!!
I wish there was a picture somewhere of Emma standing up there spelling one of those words right. We don’t get cable, so I didn’t see her on tv either, but it’s just as well… I would have kicked it.
150-Well congratz Emma, you got MUCH farther than I would have. You sure tried hard! In an hour, Mom is gonna make me watch it.
150 ~ That was exactly my reaction! I was like “Aw, Emma got out…those damn French words, though…wow, she did great…” Cause you know, you can’t think just one thing at once. And then I was scrolling through the page and I saw that Samir was out. And clevis! Wow!
So, I know I’ve sent you about a million emails, but another big congratulations to ya, Emma!
Oooh, Emma! You just lived my dream! You were great. It’s incredible how far you got.
In school about 40 people joined the spelling bee, and 30 of them got out on carburetor before I spelled it correctly :). I purposely came in second on oregano.
Congrats! It’s really a big achievement to get as far as you did.
Congratulations, Emma! I snuck out of lunch and went to the library today, (which I do often), just so I could check your scores!
Did anyone tape it, or anything like that, or know somewhere we can see it?
Samir Patel’s mother is appealing!!!
157- Meh. It’s not on YouTube. Yet.
158 – what is there to appeal?
I don’t know. The kid himself said he made a mistake on an easy word, so I really don’t know what there is to appeal. Check out cnn . com (not a link because I know the GAPAs don’t like links).
Anyway, this guy is the one Emma tied with. Impressive. V-e-r-y i-m-p-r-e-s-s-i-v-e!!!
I thought that they had already agreed it was a technicality. He said something about them pronouncing the word wrong, but truly I bet he would have missed it anyway. he got a standing ovation.
hey! i just looked up emma, and there’s a picture!!!
we know what more and more mbers look like, eh?
Looking at the website… you did really great, Emma!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m looking at the round 2 errors… adjective?!
163 – Where?!?!
I looked at all of the Spelling Bee photos (on their website), but I don’t think I saw her anywhere.
Did anyone see it?!???
165- f you click on her name, Emma *******, it will take you to a page with a pic of her.
I wasn’t near a TV tonight, so I followed the bee via my little Treo on the spelling bee website. Exciting finish! All the 15 finalists sounded Museworthy. The second-place finisher, Nat Gartke from Alberta, Canada, was behind me in line at the sandwich shop on Wednesday. We had a brief chat, but it was clear that he was keyed up and didn’t feel like talking. I liked his parents. Still, it’s nice that a Californian took first prize.
Congratulations, Emma!
167 – GOOOOOOO CALIFORNIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! W00T!!!!!
I’ve been looking at the website and:
a) those words are cool words
b) your picture is pretty, Emma! You didn’t look like I expected you to, though. Mind you, I don’t exactly know what I expected.
Feathers, maybe?
NOOOOOO!!! All the May threads have been shut down!!! (I know this isn’t the place to post this, but the place that is appropriate for it is shut down.)
171-Possibly.
This is a May thread. But yes, I noticed. Tis weird.
Oh I see. That kind of May thread.
I meant the Random thread, Discussion thread, and Newcomers thread.
It’s weird. On the calendar you can already click to June, but there’s nothing there.
Aaaarrrg! I can barely wait until June! Even though it’s only forty more minutes to wait! Will it be June Jelly? Or something else?
178- Then don’t. Do something else. And yes, it’ll be June Jelly.
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! MY PARENTS SAY IT’S BEDTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!
151-clevis, which he spelled as clevice.
152-Whats his name?
177- Your calendar clicks?
the winner had a weird voice and didnt even want to be in the bee!
I think he was just playing it cool. It was his third time in the bee, so he must have wanted to be there at least a little.
182 – I meant the museblog calendar.
Wow! Emma did quite well in the spelling bee. I saw on the website! And I saw her pic. Emma doesn’t have a feather on her at all.
Hey! How do you spell “unitedlyingparsonageinglyhavuckedfrenzyingcarpetmakers”?
No, I don’t have feathers in my human form. When I was a duck I did. But that was years ago.
(I hope that turns into a smily thingy.) It was fun. I even got to see him moderate. But he typed his password too fast for me to see it, unfortunately. And we got pie! it was sliced, though, o we couldn’t really throw itvery well, so we ended up just eating it…but it was fun. And my typing is horrible. and btw, if you make a completely off-topic post the GAPAs won’t know because when they moderate the posts they can’t see what thread they’re on. And…..what else what else what else……well, ’twas froody. very froody.
Anyway, I’ve just spent the last couple hours with Robert
Oh and he signed my muse!
188- They can’t? Really? Weird. Hmmmm.
After we finished our main courses, I said, “Shall we order apple pie for dessert?”
Emma: “WHAT?!” [Wide-eyed with disbelief.] “Pies aren’t for EATING!”
Robert: “Well, technically, no. But they cut them up here, you see. Once a pie has been butchered like that, there’s not much you can do with it except eat it, I’m afraid.”
Emma [shaking head sadly]: “What a waste.”
Congratulations, Emma! (sorry I’m saying this late, :oops:) I’m mad now I didn’t watch it on TV! Hopefully it’ll be on YouTube soon.
191-I don’t think that’s exactly how the conversation went. Did I really say “what a waste”? Pretty close, though.
192-Not sure if it’ll get on youtube, but there will probaby be reruns.
188-(Emma)I’m sure he typed it fast-from practice AND to keep you from seeing it!!!
Sorry you couldn’t throw the pie, but I don’t think Robert would enjoy REAL pies being thrown!!!
But wait-GAPAs you really can’t see what thread the comments are going to??? Can you comment while in the moderating program, or do you have to go out onto the blog, comment, and go back to moderate it?
188 – Emma, you just lived my dream.
(188) We can tell which thread they’re bound for, but it takes an extra click.We’re usually working pretty fast and don’t bother. And we can comment from within the moderating program.
Such interest in our modus operandi.
196- Oh yes, such interest . . . Such sinister interest . . . *menacing laughter*
We should have a muse spelling bee! If we can’t have it online, we should do it at the Kokonvention.
194-actually, he said that there will probably be actual pieing involved in the august kokonvention(s). I REALLY want to go to those. It sounds so froody,
196-that’s what I meant.
I talked to Rose again last night, and i’m pretty sure I talked her into coming here. She won’t be back home until Sunday, though.
I also talked to Sarah and she had never heard of muse. I didn’t really have a chance to discuss it with her, but I think my parents told hers about it. She definitely seems like a potential muser. i’ve never heard her talk about herself in the third person though.
198-Oh come on, now you’re making me REALLY jealous. We need a california kokonvention. Then we can have a spelling bee there. And I can come.
(200) There are at least three West Coast MBers that I know of: you, Alice, and E2MB. It’s a pretty long coast, though.
Yea. Alice lives in Washington, and I live in Northern California. Do you live in Northern California too?
Who, me? No, I’m in the other Washington, the one with the White House and Congress and all the marble monuments. Rosanne lives in the San Francisco Bay area, though, and Larry Gonick is in San Francisco.
I meant Emma.
Larry Gonick lives in San Francisco? WOW!!! I live close to him! Rosanne too!
200, 201, 202- If we could somehow arrange to have a kokonvention at a time when I was already going down there . . . . which will probably be in two years or some other interminably long time. Oh, drat.
Doesn’t Cat’s Meow live in Washington? State?
202-No, southern. L.A. area.
I can’t actually be the only Southern california mBers, can I? there should be more…..
Hey! I saw that guy win the other night, and you could just see his face when they said the word, you knew he knew it.
206-I think Rosanne-wait or is it Rebecca-anyway, one of the GAPAs lives down there…
hey, we might be going to DC sometime this summer. we’re going to virginia, but dad wants to stop by there and look at purdy buildings. he’s a huge history geek who loves architecture, DC is pretty much his life in a nutshell.
206-I’m pretty sure there are others. Southern California has a huge population. Hold on, let me go check…
Nope. The only other MBers on the west coast appear to be:
Cat’s Meow (Washington state)
Lord Ragevuire (SF area)
207-He definitely knew it. It was in the frequent section of the cwl, and one of few words in the finals that I actually knew. It’s rather odd, but winning words usually seem to be annoyingly easy compared to the other words at the end of the bee. (btw, “that guy” is Evan O’Dorney and “the word” was serrefine.
208-Rosanne is in california somewhere, but Northern I think.
210-That’s why I’m annoyed that there aren’t more, because there should be.
211- Wrong. C++darkmage, Gimanator possibly Hanako, and i all live in the same town in t he SF area.
213 – Do you all know each other or what?
214- They do. And now I know their names. Heheheh…
I wonder if I could get to a SF kokonvention….
SF???
217-SF is San Francisco.
215- What? Hanako is Hanako, C++darkmage has never revealed his name, and the Gimanatoor and i only on pie isle.
Okay, well, I don’t know C++darkmage’s name, but I know yours and giminator’s. But I thought . . . Oh never mind, I haven’t time. I thought that C++darkmage’s name might have been revealed on the Pie War, when you were all talking about stuff and not pieing each other, but I guess not.
217- Script Frenzy. Or San Fransisco, if you want to look at it that way.
220-I think in this context, it’s San Franicsco.
58 – I doubt that Reagan spelled “enough” as “enuf” because he was ignorant of the conventional way of spelling it – more likely I’d guess that he simply felt that “enuf” (along with “burocrat” and “burocracy”, which I’ve heard he used in place of “bureaucrat” and “bureaucracy”) seemed more logical, since it obeys English alphabetic principles more closely.
It’s also my impression that a number of pro-reformers are desirous not for our orthography to be made phonetic as such but rather for at least some of its divergent spellings (“friend” being a good example, since everyone seems to rhyme it with “trend”) to be brought into line with pre-existing dominant patterns – the idea being that it should make English less of a headache to learn and teach to read and write in and (with a bit of luck) help bring down levels of illiteracy in English-speaking nations.
222-“English alphabetic principles”? Sorry, but I have spent a lot of time studying English spelling, and it doesn’t have any principles. English is completely unprincipled (but we love it anyway).
And I don’t understand the difference between spelling friend as frend and making it phonetic. Isn’t frend the phonetic spelling?
223 – My reference to “alphabetic principles” was an allusion to patterns that strike me as being most dominant. For example, while “pant” could in theory be rhymed with “tent” (i.e. with its “a” sounding like that in “many”) for all the reader would know if he/she were familiar with written and spoken English but not this particular word, the chances are still that it would be pronounced the way it really is.
And you’re right needless to say that “frend” is almost certainly how “friend” would be spelled if our orthography had a phonetic overhaul, but it is also I can imagine how the word would emerge if the reform were a more moderate one that involved reducing its irregularities as opposed to revamping the whole system.
(222, 224) Jon,
I haven’t seen you on the blog before. Are you a Muse reader?
225 – Have never read the Muse magazine I must admit, but it’s certainly not unusual during my spare time for me to read blogs of all kinds.
Any reason you picked this particular blog to comment on our wonderfully esoteric language? Just asking, because the usual frequenters of this blog tend to be younger, and your lexicon demonstrates your either very well read or not a teenager.
226 – Dude, read the mag. It’s awesome. 8)
227- I actually talk like that sometimes, Iike when l’m talking to popular people.
227- Or putting on airs. (No offense.)
waaa, she didn’t win!
226-You might be the first person ever to post on MB who hasn’t read Muse. How old are you? but I guess a newbie is a newbie, so *pies Jon*
231-I told you all i wouldn’t, and I said that I really didn’t want people to think I would because I didn’t want to feel like I was disappointing others. If you didn’t listen to me and assumed i would win, i’m sorry. I really did my best to make you understand that it was higly unlikely for me to do really well. I’m happy with how it turned out, but I really wish other people would be too rather than act disappointed in me because I didn’t win.
232 – Don’t think you made people dissapointed. You got very far!
Muselover doesn’t come on here often, so he/she might have just skimmed the thread.
232- You did do well. I didn’t really expect you to win, since the chances were one in 200 and whatever, but you did really well nonetheless.
I realized that posting “waah she didn’t win” wouldn’t make Emma feel all that good a while ago, and I hope other people have figured that out too.
232- gimanator has never read it, and he was here first.
My friend knows the winner of the bee. He lives in Danville.
234- 286, but that’s assuming it was random. Really different people have way different chances, so it’s much more complicated.
236-I know the winner too! or I met him at least. And all the other spellers.
We are not disappointed in you Emma! Not now, not ever!
Emma, you did awesome! All of the people who acted all dissapointed obviously never got as far as you did. It’s amzing to get such a cool opporunity. Unleash the hPB’S upon all who disagree!
Spelling Bee competitions? Only necessary for an illiterate country.
240-I’m sorry, but how exactly did you reach that conclusion?
241: Correct spelling should be taken for granted, and not turned into a competitive sport.
242-Have you ever seen the words in the national spelling bee, especially the later rounds? Do you relly think it should be taken for granted that the average American can spell all those words? Can you?
Well, that’s the point, isn’t it? The average American is illiterate. The average American should be able to do just fine in the spelling bee, because the average American should be literate. However, they aren’t, and therefore they have to come up with a reason to learn spelling.
244-Again, do you really think the normal American should be expected to spel words like the ones used on the national spelling bee? And can you spell them? literate is one thing, and i agree that it would be nice if more people were literate. But national spelling bee is far beyond normal literacy.
The point is that it shouldn’t be.
246-Sorry, i still don’t get it. you’re saying that spelling bees shouldn’t be hard, and therefore they shouldn’t exist? Why exactly?
Spelling bees are a way for extremely good spellers to get recognized. America is by no means an illiterate country! It’s literacy rate is quite high compared to the rest of the world, too! Corrective spelling is taken for granted in the US, and then there are competitions that ask kids how to spell words people just about never use as a true test of skill!
248-Exactly, thank you.
I think Glassboro is trying to say the average American should be able to spell the words used in the National Spelling Bee. Glassboro, unless you can spell every word they give, I wouldn’t be pushing this position. FS, I doubt that you would be able to spell these words either, so lay off. These competitions pick the most obscure and byzantine words they can find, words that are not in the lexicon of even the most educated people in any english speaking country, not just the US. It’s just fun, and very few people actually participate in these competitions. People compete in tons of venues. If you want to challenge ridiculous sporting ventures, try eating contests.
232-no, there have been a few others. usually searching for the band, or kokopelli or something.
go emma! have i said that since you got back? oh well.
hey, the spelling bee people gave me and my friend free parties at craig’s cruisers for three years (the only reason i was actually in it…ssh :D). they can’t be that bad, huh?
250- I haven’t seen the words, so I don
Gah. It got cut off. I’ll re-post it:
250- I haven’t seen the words, so I don’t know if I can spell them. Eating contests are crazy…
253- Just picking some random words here off the website, how about amphipneustic? Bouleuterion? Abseil? There are many more on the website, and I, as a fairly good speller, know I couldn’t make it past round one or two. Google “national spelling bee” and look at the round results. They don’t give easy words, despite what Emma says, she’s very good.
253-go to the national spelling bee website and click on “round results” It’s www. spellingbee. com , if the GAPAs don’t snip that….
254-thank you
of those three, i don’t even remember the first two from the bee, but I had studied abseil, which is particularly odd because the b sounds more like a p. it’s pronounced basically like AP-zile or something like that. Oh and btw, how about gardez? that has a silent z!
I’m Rose from the spelling bee. I remember those three, but I definitely couldn’t spell bouleuterion. I had studied abseil and I knew the roots to amphipneustic, so I might have gotten that. I could only have gotten about 2 words in round 7.
Welcome, Rose! We’ve been expecting you. So glad to “see” you at last.
*pies Rose* Hiya Rose!!!!!!!! Hop on into the weird fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome, Rose! We’ve been awaiting you. (Ooh, that sounded creepy. Sorry.) *pies*
257-Rose! Nice to see you. i’d given up hope of ever hearing from you. What’s the fourth letter in your e-mail address?
Oh, and I can’t beliee I forgot to pie. *pies Rose*
Be happy you didn’t win, Emma. I remember you saying that it sounded like a nightmare on Wednesday night after they told us that if you won you would have to do a ton of interviews, sleep for about 2 hours, and then do some more interviews.
Does the 73 mean you got 73rd place?
No, I was speller number 73. I actually got 34th place like Emma.
speller73 isn’t on the who’s here page yet!!!!
Details at one
263-lol yes. I did. I think i actually said I didn’t even want to make the championship finals and I briefly considered purposely misspelling my last word of the semifinals if i was still in so I wouldn’t hae to do all that….but of course, I didn’t last that long.
264-No one got 73rd place. Or anything between 60th and 95th.
what place did you finish, emma?
268- 26-way tie for 34th.
I got in third for the one last year. But i am dtermined to get first this time.
This forum was established a day after my bday [fyi]
I notice that this thread is dead, but I thought I might mention that this year’s National Spelling Bee is Thursday and Friday next week. A new thread might be nice…
I just found speller73 and emmatheduck on the national spelling bee archives. Awesome! You pwn and good luck!
it’s not entirely dead…