A superhuman group of adolescents broke the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, with eight contestants crowned co-champions after the competition said it was running out of challenging words.
It was a stunning result, coming just after midnight Thursday, for the 92nd annual event, which has had six two-way ties but had never before experienced such a logjam at the top. After the 17th round, Jacques Bailly, the event’s pronouncer, announced that any of the eight remaining contestants who made it through three more words would share in the prize.
“We do have plenty of words remaining in our list, but we’ll soon run out of words that will challenge you,” Mr. Bailly told the contestants at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.
He added: “We’re throwing the dictionary at you. And so far, you are showing this dictionary who is boss.”
The competition normally offers a $50,000 prize to the champion. Instead of splitting it eight ways, all eight contestants will receive $50,000 and their own trophy.
I don't totally understand why they didn't keep going. Like, get the kids back to their hotel to sleep and start again today. Eight winners just seems like too much.
I do, however, appreciate that they don't have to split the prize.
I don't totally understand why they didn't keep going. Like, get the kids back to their hotel to sleep and start again today. Eight winners just seems like too much.
I do, however, appreciate that they don't have to split the prize.
I was listening to the news this morning and they said they knew they were in trouble when it took over 5 hours to whittle the field from 50 to the top 16. It seems as though they figured these students could go on endlessly without making a mistake.
That's really awesome that there are so many skilled kids at the top of their game like that. It's odd to have so many co-winners but, again, it's not a bad thing to celebrate knowledge.
I wonder if it was the competition's intention from the start to have multiple co-winners, since all the winners were offered their own $50k prize.
I went to the county-wide spelling bee twice. The first time I got knocked out on my first word, "oilcloth," because I stammered "uhhhh" in the middle of the word. I made it a few rounds in my second appearance but I forget what the word was ... as soon as they gave it to me I knew I wasn't going to get it, lol.
I was (still am) a great speller but I was so painfully shy as a child that I purposely threw the school spelling bees so I wouldn’t have to talk into a microphone in front of an audience.
Post by Velar Fricative on May 31, 2019 9:03:09 GMT -5
I'll never forget my spelling bee in second grade. I was the best speller in my class during all the practice runs, so I figured I had a good shot against all the other classes. I'm on stage and I'm the very first contestant to go for the very first word of the competition. The word is "term." I misheard and spelled "turn." I was devastated and cried when I had to leave the stage and sit in the front row of the auditorium and watch the rest of the kids clearly hear the actual words and spell them right; my teacher was trying so hard to console me.
Dear lord, I can't believe I remember this so vividly from second grade. Man, this kind of shit really stays with you.
I'll still never forget the word I lost with in a spelling bee as a kid. I won for my whole school in 5th grade and went to the city-wide one.
"Tapestry." If you pronounce it like TAPP-estry it should have TWO P's.
I misspelled gingivitis at my county. Came in second and didn't make it to state that year. I knew my roots and heard the definition and it was used in a sentence. My dad was a dental technician and I'd heard the word quite often growing up. Yet I still managed to toss a Y in lieu of an I somewhere in there, thinking "Nah, it can't ALL be I's in there." Darn Paul Stetson got it and the next word right.
Same thing happened at state my senior year. I obviously read the wrong dictionary (paperback student edition, I think American Heritage rather than Oxford) and the word was Calescence - which, it turned out, wasn't in my dictionary. I spelled coalescence, knowing it was *a* word but also knowing it was the wrong word because the definition was totally off from that which was given (heat vapors emanating from the sidewalk). Folks in the audience said they could see in my face as soon as I realized I didn't know the word. I still would have misspelled it, thinking "essence." I didn't even make top ten at state. :sad trombone
The words have gotten a LOT more difficult since I was a kid. And I *still* don't think there should be a buy-in.
Wow! A local girl won co-champion a few years ago and I kind of wondered if she was disappointed with that. 8 winners is crazy.
I feel like those kids are so crazy supportive of one another that I'd be surprised if they're disappointed, but who knows. I feel like the sportsmanship they show on stage is just unreal (in a good way).
I'll never forget my spelling bee in second grade. I was the best speller in my class during all the practice runs, so I figured I had a good shot against all the other classes. I'm on stage and I'm the very first contestant to go for the very first word of the competition. The word is "term." I misheard and spelled "turn." I was devastated and cried when I had to leave the stage and sit in the front row of the auditorium and watch the rest of the kids clearly hear the actual words and spell them right; my teacher was trying so hard to console me.
Dear lord, I can't believe I remember this so vividly from second grade. Man, this kind of shit really stays with you.
This is why I lost spelling bees. I would mishear words. Sucked being hard of hearing.
The only spelling bee I remember was in class and the teacher kept spelling the word wrong. The word was dairy. It was down to me and one boy and we kept trying to switch between dairy and diary. We knew the spelling but could not figure out what word she thought she had.
Back in 5th grade, I did perfectly on the written test, then at the bee I got knocked out in the second round with 'maimed.' I can spell while writing words no problem, but ask me to spell it verbally and something breaks between my brain and mouth.
Post by litebright on May 31, 2019 12:21:30 GMT -5
Man, Velar Fricative, I had a very similar grade school experience of being a great speller who ended up in tears. I wasn't the very first speller, but on my first turn I got "receive." And that was it. It is one of my most clear memories from grade school. Ugh. Crying in those awful, uncomfortable wooden auditorium seats.
I have to say, with that as my sole spelling bee experience, it was the tiniest bit personally cathartic to watch my DD1 win the school spelling bee this year. She went out on her first word in the regional bee (which I couldn't attend, but DH sent video), but she is so much more laid back about things than I was as a kid and was just happy that she made it there to begin with. So I got to both be proud of her win and admire how she handled a first-word loss.
I watched it live. It was so dramatic! It was like eight exciting conclusions instead of just one. I was really glad that they each got the full prize.
I always feel so bad for the parents in the audience. They look like they're going to have heart attacks. I can't imagine going through that stress cycle over and over for 12+ hours.
I don't totally understand why they didn't keep going. Like, get the kids back to their hotel to sleep and start again today. Eight winners just seems like too much.
I do, however, appreciate that they don't have to split the prize.
Pshaw. It's awesome! And they all got the money! I love winners and words and this is a lot of word winners!
Also, I presume professional spelling bee hosts know when they've met their match(es) when it comes to words. A lot of words that are challenging for mere mortals follow pretty predictable patterns when it comes to spelling if you know the roots and stuff. Surely they looked at their dwindling supply of trickster words and figured it wasn't going to be possible to winnow down much farther.
I don't totally understand why they didn't keep going. Like, get the kids back to their hotel to sleep and start again today. Eight winners just seems like too much.
I do, however, appreciate that they don't have to split the prize.
Pshaw. It's awesome! And they all got the money! I love winners and words and this is a lot of word winners!
Also, I presume professional spelling bee hosts know when they've met their match(es) when it comes to words. A lot of words that are challenging for mere mortals follow pretty predictable patterns when it comes to spelling if you know the roots and stuff. Surely they looked at their dwindling supply of trickster words and figured it wasn't going to be possible to winnow down much farther.
Yeah. It wasn't like there'd be a few more rounds and they'd be done. It would probably take hours to eliminate one or two, and days to get down to one.
These kids are 12-14 years old. What good is served by making them go 76 rounds over three days until seven of them have collapsed from the exhaustion and stress?
I remember getting eliminated from a small classroom spelling bee on the word February. To this day, people who pronounce it "Febooary" make me rage, because it's their fault I didn't know there was two Rs in the word.