# Could you qualify for the National Spelling Bee? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 26, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812 "2010-05-26T13:40:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/1 "2010-05-26T13:40:58Z")
I missed only words #17 and #22 of 25, and thus made it to the second one-clue round, which I aced. I also nailed the third-round challenge for a final score of 29, which would have put me in next week’s semifinals. The contest airs June 3 at 1:15 p.m. EDT on ESPN3 (preliminaries), June 4 at 10 a.m. EDT on ESPN (semifinals), and June 4 at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC (finals). [Can you meet or beat my score?](http://www.spellingbee.com/sample-test) ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/2 "2010-05-26T22:00:03Z")
I’m not sure how I did. I took me to a review screen after the first 25, I said ok, then it took me to “word 26 of 25”, but the audio for the word didn’t work, nor did any of the explanatory text show up. Also, I can’t get past this screen. Lame. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/3 "2010-05-26T22:38:17Z")
Final score 22. Got the second round word. Missed the third round one. Was going very fast - probably would have gotten at least one more correct if I was more thorough (heh, that was one of the words). Also, put in at least one homophone because I didn’t read the definition carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/4 "2010-05-26T22:44:53Z")
I only got 25. Missed six in the first round. Three were words I had never heard of and just guessed, and one was a stupid mistake on my part :smack: Got both the second round and third round word. It didn’t help that my wife walked in the door as soon as I started taking the test, yakking on her cell phone and then turning on the TV and making it difficult for me to hear the words. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/5 "2010-05-26T22:55:38Z")
A couple dumb mistakes only got me a couple words into round two. Final score 21. Although my second word wasonychorrhexiswhich would have hosed me from the very start. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/6 "2010-05-26T23:18:41Z")
I did my damn good on onychorrhexis considering I had never heard of the damn word. I went with onychorhexis :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/7 "2010-05-26T23:31:46Z")
Yess, I culd mak it EZ. I spelt gudly. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/8 "2010-05-27T00:04:38Z")
I am a hopeless speller. I always have been. In school I tried to study to pass my spelling tests, when that didn’t work I just got better at cheating. That worked every time.😛 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/9 "2010-05-27T02:06:22Z")
In the first round, I only missed the word about the nail condition. I got the second round word right, so I did get to the third round. However, I got that word wrong, so I did not make it to the semi-finals. Total 2 errors. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/10 "2010-05-27T03:07:12Z")
For a real challenge- do it with the sound turned off and try to work out the word without hearing it, and THEN spell it correctly. That’s what I did- I got all 12 of the words I guessed correctly right and made some interesting errors (e.g. Charabanc for Limousine). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/11 "2010-05-27T14:14:42Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I did my damn good on > > onychorrhexis considering I had never heard of the damn word. > I went with onychorhexis :smack: I had the same word, which I’d never heard before, but my wrong spelling was [spoiler]onacaraxus. I also misspelled quomodo (another word I’d never heard before) as “quomido,” and like an idjit wasn’t paying attention and dropped the final “c” from the word adolescence.[/spoiler] My final score was 25, not good enough to qualify. I consider myself a pretty good speller, and for the past four years have taken part in a community adult spelling bee to benefit local schools. It’s fun, but my three-person team has never done better than tie for third place. There are some fearsomely good spellers out there. If you ever get the chance to see this show, go! It’s a blast: [The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_25th_Annual_Putnam_County_Spelling_Bee) ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/12 "2010-05-27T15:34:40Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I’m not sure how I did. I took me to a review screen after the first 25, I said ok, then it took me to “word 26 of 25”, but the audio for the word didn’t work, nor did any of the explanatory text show up. Also, I can’t get past this screen. Lame. Had the same exact thing happen. Totally lame. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/13 "2010-05-27T15:40:34Z")
I can answer that question without even playing the game. When I’m up there, I get nervous, and lose any ability to spell that I already had. If I’m even slightly unsure, I will mess up. And now it’s even worse, as I’ve grown so dependent on spell check that I can’t even remember the right spelling when I see a red underlined word. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/14 "2010-05-27T15:40:38Z")
know ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/15 "2010-05-27T17:43:10Z")
> [@sachertorte](#): > > know No! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-qualify-for-the-national-spelling-bee/540812/16 "2010-05-27T21:07:40Z")
I got 29 as well. Missed two specialized words I’d never heard of.