# Could YOU win the spelling bee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342 "2007-06-01T14:36:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/21 "2007-06-01T19:13:55Z")
I got 10 out of 10. I was helped not only by the multiple choice, but by the fact I’d read a list of the last ten winning words that accompanied an article in yesterday’s _Indianapolis Star_. However, my spelling credentials are solid. I won my school’s bee when I was in the fourth grade (but didn’t get to compete for the chance to go on to Washington), and as I watched yesterday’s coverage, I had about the same overall percentage as did the contestants. I truly knew only a few of the words given live on ESPN and ABC, but logic and good guesses allowed me to “nail” a few dozen more. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/22 "2007-06-01T19:24:17Z")
Does anyone else remember the word they went out on in a spelling bee? I was in primary school and got bested by “etymology”. My Nana remembered hers too-- “tongue”. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/23 "2007-06-01T19:30:07Z")
Chalk up another “10/10 but only because it was multiple choice” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/24 "2007-06-01T19:32:55Z")
10 of 10. I can’t spell, but I can recognize a misspelled word. If I’d been asked to spell that list, I might have gotten 3 right. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/25 "2007-06-01T19:41:51Z")
7/10 - missed 2, 9, & 10. Most of those were lucky guesses. Actually, about 7 were lucky guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/26 "2007-06-01T20:04:12Z")
10 out of 10. 6 I knew and could have spelled without any reference. 2 I made educated guesses at. 2 were wild stabs. The words mentioned in the article as being used in the bee, though… many of those were total mysteries to me, including the final one spelled by the winner. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/27 "2007-06-01T20:12:00Z")
10/10. Remembering my Latin and Greek helped a lot. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/28 "2007-06-01T20:54:47Z")
I did well purely because of multiple choice, too. I only missed that “auto-whatever” one. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/29 "2007-06-01T20:55:39Z")
Absolutly not. Anyone who’s read my posts (anyone? anyone?? _whimper_) knows I can’t spell on my best day. And I can’t spell in my head for the life of me. And CNN considers me a worker bee. _goes of to eat her two honeycombs in the corner_ ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/30 "2007-06-01T21:06:46Z")
10/10. The fact that it was multiple choice obviously helped, but I also study French and Spanish, and I actually knew “autochthonous” (from French class, actually). ---
**Author:** ![Faruiza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@Faruiza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Faruiza)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/31 "2007-06-01T21:24:21Z")
10/10, but not without the multiple choice, no sirree. I was a spelling bee winner in elementary. I was in 3rd grade, I beat a 5th grader. (Go little me!) I still have the trophy around here somewhere. Too bad my math skills are inversely proportional to my spelling prowess. I’m thick as a post when it comes to that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/32 "2007-06-01T21:55:50Z")
I got 'em all, but only because the quiz was multiple choice. I sure didn’t know about half of those words! I won the spelling bees at my schools for several years straight. I went to the county level one year and in the last round I lost on the word “missile”. Just glossed over the second i, even though I did know how to spell it. Pissed me right off that I missed it, but I was really glad I didn’t have to continue with the contests. I didn’t like getting up in front of people and hated the constant nagging by my mother to study my words (I never did anyway). ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/33 "2007-06-02T04:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Does anyone else remember the word they went out on in a spelling bee? I was in primary school and got bested by “etymology”. My Nana remembered hers too-- “tongue”. [/QUOTE] I think everyone does. My mother will never forget how to spell “meringue,” and that was about 60 years ago. I still kick myself mentally about spelling “juicily” with only one “i,” because I spelled too fast. That was fourth grade, I think. Still bothers me. I remember winning on the words, more: “equilateral,” “tapir,” and “rhombus.” The one that haunts me, I lost on – “intermezzo.” ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/34 "2007-06-02T04:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] Same here. So, yes, were the spelling bee multiple choice - where the groups of answers were put together by people who didn’t know anything about root words, I’d totally win. [/QUOTE] Seems like a lot of us missed that one. Again, I did great since it was multiple choice, but spelling aloud? I can barely spell simple words out loud. I can write them down no problem, but without any visual context I’m toast. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/35 "2007-06-02T06:44:43Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Does anyone else remember the word they went out on in a spelling bee? I was in primary school and got bested by “etymology”. My Nana remembered hers too-- “tongue”. [/QUOTE] In fifth grade I got 3rd place in the school spelling bee. I didn’t realize they said footcandle **s** and didn’t put that oh so important S on the end. In 6th grade I got 2nd place. I had never heard the word unmitigated before and thought they had said unmiti **c** ated. (I do remember that we went 27 rounds total, though.) In 7th grade I won the school spellling bee. I don’t remember the word I won on but I do remember at the Regional spelling bee, I got flustered about 3/4ths of the way through and spelled malodorous with an extra od. In 8th grade I won the school spelling bee again. Don’t remember that word either, but I remember getting flustered at the Regional spelling bee about 3/4ths of the way through and misspelling rhythm. That word is my arch-nemesis and I will never be able to confidently spell it. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/36 "2007-06-02T08:20:56Z")
Did most of you guys do spelling bees? And where are such things held? Are they school-wide or what? My school was a small private school and didn’t have such things. We also didn’t have school buses or a cafeteria or a gym. Man that school sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/37 "2007-06-02T08:58:51Z")
10/10, but some of those words were rather intimidating. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/38 "2007-06-02T14:30:31Z")
6/10. Eye am an attroceus speller, sew much sow that it sometimes affects the words I employ if I’m knot sure hao to spell them, plus mai problem with homophones borders on LD. (I suppose I’m latently homophonic.) I did start to go see AKEELAH & THE BEE, but didn’t when somebody spoiled the ending by telling me she was allergic to the stinger. Such a blatant ripoff of _MY GIRL_ if you axe mi. ---
**Author:** ![rucciface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rucciface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rucciface)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/39 "2007-06-02T14:55:11Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Does anyone else remember the word they went out on in a spelling bee? I was in primary school and got bested by “etymology”. My Nana remembered hers too-- “tongue”. [/QUOTE] In the 3rd grade, I lost to Jeff Johnson from the neighboring classroom when I put an extra “e” in “argument”. I can remember it like it was yesterday. My teacher was livid. The look on her face…she must have had some money riding on me. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342/40 "2007-06-02T17:03:13Z")
Yet another 10 out of 10 who doubts he wopuld have got it without MC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-win-the-spelling-bee/406342.md?page=3)