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Thursday, June 2, 2005
It’s appoggiatura
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s Aunrag Kashyap, a 13-year-old from Poway, Calif. The winning word: appoggiatura. Samir had to settle for a tie for second place.
What an event the National Spelling Bee is. If you have Bee fever, swing by a video store and check out Spellbound. Or buy Bee Season, a novel that brilliantly captures the Bee spirit, though the plot gets a little weird. There’s even a Broadway musical about a spelling bee, so it’s not like I’m alone in my bee obsession.
A word to the sponsors: James was sponsored by the Atlanta Daily World and the Georgia Association of Educators. Joe’s sponsor was the Augusta Chronicle.
Rajiv is out. It’s dowon to Samir and two Californians, Anurag Kashyap and Aliya Deri.
Marshall missed on Serang. There are four kids remaining, Rajiv and Samir among them. In fact, the four remaining kids all appear to be Indian. I wrote about this phenomenon last year. The Indian community holds spelling bees regularly, making it a more high-profile activity and giving Indian kids more opportunities to practice.
Katharine Close is out. She fell on laetrile, which she spelled laotryl. Samir, Marshall and Rajiv are withing striking distance of an appearance on David Letterman. The field has narrowed to six. All four made it through Round 12: Anurag, Aliya, Rajiv and Samir. All have been to the national Bee before.
According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, hooroosh is a noun meaning a wild, hurried, or excited state or situation; confusion. What a great word!
Samir, Katharine, Rajiv and Marshall all survived Round 9. Ten spellers remain.
Hooroosh??? What the heck is that? I can’t find it in my dictionary, but Samir Patel managed to spell it correctly. Katharine, Rajiv and Marshall are also still alive.
As my favorite figure skater Michelle Kwan says, “The ice is slippery.” This is the third straight year that Georgia has had a strong showing at the National Spelling Bee.
Bravo, Joe and James! By my count, they tied for 22nd place. Remember, that’s from a field of 273, all of whom had to win at least one local bee to get to Washington.
Learning so many words requires a lot of time, commitment and discipline. Some cynics will say it’s a waste of time to learn to spell seldom-used words, but many spellers also learn the definitions while they’re at it. It helps them remember the spelling.
Four of my picks survived Round 7: Samir, Katharine, Rajiv and Marshall.
It’s off to the comfort room for both Georgia’s spellers. The comfort room is where kids go after they misspell, so they can compose themselves. One parent is allowed in to console them. When they emerge, the TV cameras are usually right there in their faces, with the reporters saying, “How do you feel?”
And Joe is out, too. He got tombolo, which he spelled tambalo.
James, it was a good run. James was dinged out on keratinophilic. I suspect he hadn’t heard the word. He spelled it coratinophilic. He should hold his head high!
Whoops! Katie Brown of Florida is out. Dinged on monogoneutic.
The Bee World: It’s hard to explain the National Spelling Bee, an event that at times seems so magical and at other times so out of control.
For example, last year a child fainted on stage and no adult rushed to his rescue. He staggered to his feet, unaided, and correctly spelled the word. He ended up coming in second. But the incident soured me on the Bee a bit, not necessarily the event but the way some parents put so much pressure on their kids and seem to lose sight of the fact that it’s supposed to be fun.
Over the past three years, Georgia’s kids have stood out not only for their spelling prowess, but for their ability to see the Bee in perspective. Athena Lao, only child of Filipino immigrants, returned to her seat after coming in twelfth and applauded wildly for her friends who were still in the hunt. She and her father spelled almost every word correctly from the audience. When it was all over, she said, “I’m just so glad I got to see it.” She and her dad had previously watched it on TV at home.
Last year, Biplab Panda came in, I believe, 16th. He shed a few tears and then returned to watch the end. While the winner was holding court with the press, Biplab noted that he knew how to spell the word that ultimately won. “I knew the winning word at the National Spelling Bee,” he told me. “How cool is that?”
And don’t get me started on the press-shy Joe Shepherd, the most polite child I’ve ever encountered.
These kids set an example, and not just because they know how to spell.
Patti’s Picks: Round 6 was halted for lunch and to accommodate the ESPN schedule. I’ll take this opportunity to make my picks. Though I’m bursting with pride for Joe and James, I can’t put them on my list. Joe has so many other interests besides spelling, and James is new to the national stage.
- Samir Patel of Texas
- Catharine Close of New Jersey
- Marshall Winchester of North Carolina
- Rajiv Tarigopula of Missouri
- Katie Brown of Florida.
It’s anybody’s race, but I’m giving these kids an edge because they have the experience and commitment.
This Just In: These Georgia kids can spell! James spelled gneiss, and Joe spelled olid. Just because words are short doesn’t mean they are easy to spell. Katie Brown, a veteran speller from Florida, is also a speller to watch. She correctly spelled ipseity to make it into Round 7. The spellers will probably break for lunch after this round.
Bee Bulletin: Round 6 and only 36 of 273 spellers remain. This Bee might not stretch into the later afternooon like last year’s did.
The National Spelling Bee is being broadcast live on ESPN, but the TV in my office doesn’t get ESPN. Torture!
James and Joe survived the fifth round. James spelled terrigenous, and Joe spelled myasthenia.
At this point in the competition, several factors come into play: the ability to stay calm under pressure, knowledge of a freakishly large amount of obscure words and luck.
Both James and Joe have made Georgia very proud in getting this far.
I’m going to predict Samir Patel of Texas as the ultimate winner. He crawled into his mother’s lap and cried when he came in third two years ago at age 9. Last year, he made a shockingly early exit, and the word around the Bee was he was overconfident. This could be his year, though he still has two more years of eligibility.
