G-u-e-r-d-o-n
Did you catch the National Spelling Bee last night? As longtime readers know, I’m an avid fan of the contest. It was a terrific show last night. The students have such great poise, enthusiasm, and senses of humor to boot.
The winning word this year was “guerdon.” The champ is Sameer Mishra, a 13-year-old from Indiana. He provided the funniest moment of the spelling bee when he misheard his round 9 word– “numnah” — as “numnut.” Bloomberg reported the moment without mentioning how he blurted out the latter word to uproarious laughter from the audience:
The champion’s winning performance was matched by a dry wit that often delighted the audience. In round 9, he was asked to spell “numnah,” a word that describes the felt pad cut to the shape of a saddle and used as protection for horse’s back.
The term also rhymes with a barnyard vulgarity used to describe someone with less-than-stellar intelligence.
After asking the announcer for a restatement, Sameer sighed and said, “That’s a relief.”
Hee.
The second- and third-place winners received standing ovations. Thirteen-year-old Tia Thomas, of Coarsegold, California, placed third when she missed the word “opificer.” Runner-up Sidharth Chand, a twelve-year-old from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, dropped the “i” in “prosopopoeia.”
My kids’ favorite word last night was “basenji.”
If you’re looking for a good family movie, “Spellbound” is worth renting.
Thankfully, the educrats opposed to competition and merit haven’t ruined this hallowed academic tradition yet.
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Guerdon- a payment or reward. You deserve it kid!
I really enjoyed watching young people reaping the rewards of hard work… Very refreshing!!
Sameer, was a pleasure to watch. An engaging personality, great sense of humor, and smart!
Congratulations, Sameer!!!
What I was wondering is if Prosopopoeia
and Onomatopoeia are similar and if so how can I fit it into an Obama joke.
You’ll have an easier time working in numbnut.
Cue nyk’s whine in 3…2…1.
TT, excellent post!
This was great tv for a change. I thought he was so funny and they all seem like such great kids.
I read in this mornings Washington Times where the first winner, a 92 y/o gentleman from KY was there and was also quite the star too. He was remarking on how nice all the kids were.
For those who missed it, you missed a great night of television.
When I hear Sidharth’s last word, I thought, dang, I love sopapillas, especially with honey and then Sameer’s last word made me think of a nice tuna salad, with pickles.
It was dinner time.
Oh, THAT “Spellbound”. I thought that you meant the Alfred Hitchcock movie with Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Leo G. Carroll.
Congratulations to all in the Spelling Bee–participants, staff, sponsors, and parents. I’m glad that hard work in academic pursuits can still be rewarded in public.
undrseige247:
This works well as a Kennedy joke:
“Errah is there anything wrong opificer? What do you mean errah you cahn’t drive on the sidewalk?”
Curious George might be a prosopopoeia of Barack Obama if Curious George spoke with Barack’s voice. Hmmmmm.
Nice haul Sameer!
Note to libtwits:
This is what it looks like when a woman-of-color gets into Princeton without affirmative action. It’s a beautiful thing.
Last night was one of the few reasons to watch network television. It was a celebration of geekiness, and I mean that in the nicest way possible!
This sort of competition is what broadcast/cable television should have evolved into. The greatest educational tool ever. But instead, most of what hits the airwaves is, well, you know, just not worth watching or listening to.
Good post Michelle. Congratulations to all the contestants.
An onomatopoeia of BO is not possible because he’s not an inanimate object or animal that makes a distinct sound; his wife on the other hand…
p-o-t-a-t-o-e
In some ways, however inconsequential this is, the current spelling bee format is unfair. How does one gauge the difficulty of one word versus another to spell? Each speller should have to spell all of the same words every other speller gets, then compare their scores. The more you get right, the better you do. For example, give each speller 50 words: the one who gets the most right wins. This seems to make more sense than saying “you’re gone” to a kid who gets one word wrong, yet has the rest of the dictionary memorized.
But hey, if given the choice of the current system or getting rid of all spelling bees, I’ll take the current system.
#13……..Yes, Mama Obama has a very grating screeching sound. I think the Latin term is “squakus bitchalotus”. It hits my ear like a Barbara Streisand record. OUCH !
For all their hatred of competition, the libs will still promote it because they can’t make everyone a brain surgeon today, and they know it.
Is that meant to be said in a whiny, high pitched voice?
We’ll be sure to get San Fran Nan, and White Flag Harry to initiate an investigation.
thats right.. don’t let any smart kids get a chance to shine..
let the dummies in brain buckets hitting each other on friday nights get the glory..
it’s a contest.. the key is preparation.. learning words, roots and orgins and most of them can wing it..
How do you know?
It’s so hard to have rational discourse nowadays…
I’m betting that the Bloomberg reporter had to look ‘numnut’ up.
grumbles:
Sorry. Forgot to link to the story.
Relevant passage is here:
Your questioning of the format may not be rational by many here, however connecting Reid, Pelosi, the Obamas, the Kennedys, , etc. by others is…….a…….oh numnuts.
Sorry, still don’t see the Affirmative Action link.
G.e.t.e.r.d.o.n.e.
Shoot! Had no idea it was on. And how funny. We own a basenji!
That’s because there is no link to affirmative action. Shruti was admitted to Princeton without affirmative action.
Remember PC fans, there is no such thing as failing - it’s just deferred success.
No need for a joke since the definitions of both pretty much sum up Obama.
Once again, how do you know?
Given her recent comments, I think Iran Fran Nan is more apropos.
Now there’s an intelligent response… Thank you for making my point.
Amount of wit used: minimal.
In terms of syntax, the sentence doesn’t even make sense.
“Reid, Pelosi, the Obamas, the Kennedy’s, , etc.” [sic] has what to do with the question of fairness in spelling bees, which was the, admittedly, inconsequential problem I addressed in my post, with a solution I might add. This is, by definition, a fallacy of relevance, ergo a detraction from rational discourse.
How do I know? I have a functioning brain and I use it every chance I get.
How do you know?
Obama is an onomatopoeia of what President McCain will do to Iran.
If Obama had spelled potato, p-o-t-a-t-o-e, Webster’s would quickly recall all their dictionaries and reissue them with the corrected spelling. After all, the messiah would have spoken! And the Chris Matthews leg would REALLY tingle!
Please forgive me, but really, what does Obama, McCain, or anything dealing with politics have to do with a spelling bee? I suppose I should brace myself for appearing to support Obama in some weird way.
Honestly, this is no different than to what is commonly referred as BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome,) except replace “Bush” with “Obama.” Sure, I suppose it’s all in the name of humor, but others do read these sites and use this as ammunition against conservatives, using such things to show how “unhinged” and “hateful” we are. Just a thought.
I’ve thought about that too, kind of a ‘luck of the draw’ thing in a way.
Doing it the way you’ve suggested… just doesn’t make for good TV.
Prosopopoeia? Isn’t that the 58th state that Ubama had yet to visit last week? Oh, no — wait … sorry that was obtusenopoeia.
Good point. Nobody would enjoy watching a bunch of kids taking a spelling test.
My thinking on that is to do it kind of like “Jeopardy!” for the last 5-10 contestants. Give them each a podium with an electronic pen, read the word to them, then they write it out. First one to 10 points wins, or however you wish to score it.
For the group at large, you can 1) keep doing it the same way we are, 2) make them take a test of 50 words with someone reading it to them, or 3) break up the group into smaller groups and do the “Jeopardy!” thing.
What do you think? (Scary that I’ve put this much thought into this.)
I think spelling bees are wrong because they don’t cater to the undocumented workers children, their language or customs. I find it appalling all the words are European and don’t represent the Latino experience. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Just kidding, work is slow.
Nope Sarge, he didn’t. He just looked in the mirror.
To Send_Me:
The current format not only requires the contestants to spell, but to perform under pressure.
If your idea was used for a football game, the team that could draw up the best plays would win, but never have the pressure of going on the field and performing them. Both ideas would be boring.
On May 31st, 2008 at 11:46 am, Silkyinfamous said:
p-o-t-a-t-o-e
I say p-o-t-a-t-o……….
They do have a disparate impact on the dyslexic.
While not winning, the kid representing Wisconsin was a home-schooler
My proposal is to use more of a Jeopardy! type format. Or even use a soundproof booth on the stage, one speller comes out, gets five words, then goes to the other side of the stage and sits down. Then the next person gets the same words, and so on, until all have spelled the words. Then they all get back in the booth and start again. My point is that to make it fair, each speller should have to spell all of the same words each other speller spells. There are a hundred different ways of doing this. Obviously, as you pointed out, which I mentioned earlier, the written “spelling test” format would pretty boring. The Jeopardy! format would require them to still stand before an audience, under pressure, and perform.
There’s no real pressure involved in things like this. Pressure would be if you were speaking, like Michelle Malkin does so much. Hi Michelle.
Spelling does not involved pressure.
Maybe a bit like a math exam vs a creative writing english exam… with math it’s like a race to the answer but with english it’s something that has to come from inside of you.
You have got to be kidding! Surrendercrats have never cared what the facts are or what has been said anywhere. They just make up whatever crap they need to when spouting off.
Oooooh we better be nice…or they might denigrate the military. Oops.
Or, we better be nice or they might compare us to Hitler. Many oops.
Next thing you, we might be called bitter and clingy.
Well, if we give them the “facts” and say things that can be used against us, then they won’t have to “make up” anything anymore now will they? This is a classic form of a “Two Wrongs Make a Right” fallacy.
I could give a damn what they “make up” about us. We can refute those things, which we do quite effectively. I, for one, will have no part in embarrassing the conservative cause by employing ad hominem or any other fallacies of relevance as they do nothing but detract from rational discourse. If we use the same tactics they use, then what is the difference between us and them?
I can see you and a lot of other folks on here are passionate about the issues presented here, as am I. However, if we are to win, we must beat them with our minds, as well as our will.
Send_Me:
The problem with libs is that they’ll never understand humor or parody. Many of us aren’t willing to wait for them to catch up.
And I could give a damn about playing nice with those who want to ruin conservatism and this country.
It is playing nice that is costing elections when surrendercrats are flinging poo from the sewer. Republicans who want to remain above the fray and refuse to fight back, lose.
It is this attitude of refusing to respond to lies, such as Pelosi giving credit to Iran for the success of the surge, that has turned many in the public against the war.
This is the second time you have used “rational discourse”, normally used by libs who want to sound soooo intellectual.
Are you sure you are not a lefty?
Panacea. P-a-n-a-c-e-a.
That’s the word that ruined my chance to go to Washington when I was in eighth grade.
Playing “nice” does not imply a lack of boldness and passion in making our case for conservatism. It means to leave the name calling aside and stick to calling liberals out based upon what they say and do, using sound arguments without petty mudslinging.
So are you implying we should act as the “surrendercrats” do and resort to sheer name calling to state our case? Republicans who “remain above the fray,” like Bobby Jindal, as an example, fight back with reason, not name calling. They say, “I can do better, and here’s how…” Another way is by showing commercials that uses an opponent’s words against him, within the bounds of honesty and context. This is how Reagan won.
Are you implying that because I study philosophy that I must be a “lefty?”
Shruti is Asian-Indian.
Asian-Indians and Orientals are not considered as ethnic Minority as far as the college admissions in the USA go.
An annual reminder that academics can be based upon superlatives. We need more challenges like this.
I always thought it was N U M B - N U T S
Not to take away from the contestants, but the one thing that does not have me riveted to my seat is that I suspect that in the final stages of the contest, the contestants do not have any idea of the meaning of many the words they are asked to spell (until they are told). So rather than a testing knowledge of the English language, it seesm the contest rewards mastery of using spelling rules and word orgins to win.
I’ll never forget my only spelling bee experience in the 7th grade. I missed the word “ancillary” for the chance to compete in Denver for the state competition in Colorado. The top two got to make the trip and I came in third. Spelled it with one “L”. Seems like a silly little word compared to what these kids have to spell.
but that is the liberal definition of mudslinging..
Anyway.. I like the current model of the spelling bee..
It means prep work.. one girl failed because a word with a russian orgin (ended in ‘yr’) was given and she spelled it out with an ‘er’.. (can’t remember the word off hand)
if she had thought the word through and realized that it was russian, then she could have spelled it right..
it’s prep and study of words..
plus, it helps them prepare for the fairness of real life as well..
How does it react to strangers, does it make any sound at all? What color?
Our neighbor insists her “baby” is one…just because of the curly tail. But it growls and yips when our cat takes her stroll atop the fence.
And?
I’ve always loved this argument… So we’re telling kids, “yeah, it’s something we could fix, but we’re either too lazy or too incompetent to do so. Maybe one day when you’re older…” Then they get older and say the same thing to their kids.
My question is with all of the “unfairness” in the world, why do we create or maintain arbitrary methods for proving this point for our kids? Instead, why don’t we teach our kids that when confronted with unfairness they try to fix it, rather than wimping out by saying, “woe is me, life’s unfair.”
Just a small way to help raise children of character rather than wusses.
I remember in the 7th grade (this was a K-8 school) I won the school spelling bee. It was surreal. I advanced to the district bee, where I was the first one eliminated. I was so nervous and made such a dumb mistake. THAT was humiliating! I don’t even remember the word!
I turned this on Friday night thinking my 8yo wouldn’t really be interested. He LOVED it! I even let him stay up late to watch the whole thing. I daresay he might even work harder on his spelling this week.
The “numnut” moment was hilarious.
Absolutely correct and accurate (as correct and as accurate as Sameer Mishra’s spelling)!