# Ask the National Spelling Bee Champion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 29, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500 "2013-08-29T14:41:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lord\_Geoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lord\_Geoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Geoff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/41 "2013-08-30T15:41:07Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Just wondering - was the word “Antidisestablishmentarianism” on any of your lists? > > Famous long word from a game show ages ago… No but that word is very easy. Breaking up syllables is easy to do, and there are no tricks on that word. Supercalifragilisticexplialidocious is tough though, and I have no idea if I spelled it right. Of course, it is a nonsense word so it doesn’t really count. Dick Van Dyke probably made it up. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/42 "2013-08-30T16:02:21Z")
Is your background Indian (as in from India)? I notice that over the last several years the Bee has been dominated by people of Indian ethnicity and in the documentary “Spellbound” they showed that some Indian families put a lot of pressure on their children to excel in spelling contests. Was that the case when you were involved, and if not what do you think caused the change in the demographics of the game? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/43 "2013-08-30T16:35:21Z")
> [@Lord\_Geoff](#): > > Supercalifragilisticexplialidocious is tough though, and I have no idea if I spelled it right. Of course, it is a nonsense word so it doesn’t really count. Dick Van Dyke probably made it up. One too many 'L’s. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Geoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lord\_Geoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Geoff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/44 "2013-08-30T17:24:34Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Is your background Indian (as in from India)? I notice that over the last several years the Bee has been dominated by people of Indian ethnicity and in the documentary “Spellbound” they showed that some Indian families put a lot of pressure on their children to excel in spelling contests. Was that the case when you were involved, and if not what do you think caused the change in the demographics of the game? I am as Caucasian as they come. Yes the Indians have been fairly dominant recently. In my time it was a general smattering. The top four my year as I remember were two Caucasians, an Asian, and an Indian. As for what I think caused the change…I believe Spellbound itself probably had an impact as Nupur Lala was the star. The Spelling Bee is an interesting phenomenon in that all you require as parents is to have a talented and willing child, and the motivation to put in the work and you have as good a chance as any. As for why the Indians excel in general, that probably requires some stereotyping of “they are hard workers, etc.” The Spelling Bee, due to the huge amount of words to learn, is probably 80% hard work and 20% talent. Luck obviously is an innate part of the competition as well. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Geoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lord\_Geoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Geoff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/45 "2013-08-30T17:25:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > One too many 'L’s. 😃 Ah the one after the P. See that is why getting the pronouncer to repeat is key! You can’t spell the word if you don’t know the word. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/46 "2013-08-30T17:26:56Z")
> [@Lord\_Geoff](#): > > I was on a blind date with a girl who was bragging to me how good of a speller she was. “I have the kids flip to a word in the dictionary and I can always spell it.” I let it go. Shoulda asked her to spell “renascent”, and when she got it wrong, say “Yeah, the guy that lost to me in the 1993 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee got it wrong as well - it’s a hard one.” What’s your most common typo? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Geoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lord\_Geoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Geoff)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/47 "2013-08-30T17:41:15Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Shoulda asked her to spell “renascent”, and when she got it wrong, say “Yeah, the guy that lost to me in the 1993 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee got it wrong as well - it’s a hard one.” > > What’s your most common typo? She woulda been like “Oh that’s nice. Did I tell you how good a speller I am?” Renascent is actually pretty easy because it is common, but when he kept asking for more information it was like “Hmm maybe he doesn’t know it…” Then it was like “OK one more word and it’s over…Here goes…” “Kamikaze.” “Really?” I don’t actually have one I can think of that repeats itself. I did have to edit necessary in an above post but that was strictly a typo. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/48 "2014-02-11T03:18:52Z")
> [@Lord\_Geoff](#): > > Eidetic is not necessary. Once you get the knack for it, you get to the point where you just start to learn the words as you see them. Obviously some will be better than others, but I don’t have a photographic memory or anything. But if I’ve ever seen it, I can probably spell it. I’ve always been a good speller (thought I aced myself out of the bee in 8th grade because I spelled my word too fast they misheard what I said), and I’ve found that my color-grapheme synesthesia helps me spell words. Once I see a word, I see what color all the letters are. If it’s misspelled, the colors are in the wrong order. As I said, though, I didn’t get up high enough to get to the really nasty words, so I’m not sure how well it would work for those. ETA: Oops, and I realized I just resurrected a zombie. I can spell BRAAAIIINS! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500/49 "2014-02-11T19:11:09Z")
Have you ever heard of a Broadway show called [The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee](http://www.spellingbeethemusical.com/)(warning, flash and auto-play sound). My sister in law was a regional champion and loved it. It’s not a documentary, but a fun take on the spelling bee world and the kids that are part of it. It’s mostly focused on the kids and tells their story. Enjoy, Steven [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-national-spelling-bee-champion/667500.md?page=2)