# Get bent. B-E-N-T. Bent. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573 "2006-02-08T18:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![barracuda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@barracuda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barracuda)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/61 "2006-02-09T14:27:49Z")
lorgnette was my come-uppance (spring, 1970). And I still have to look it up! You do realize that this mother will be suing the school again in a year or so for not offering enough/good enough ‘enrichment’ courses for her next bear cub’s needs. The school board’s reply “We wasted, er spent, that money on a stupid spelling bee lawsuit.” ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/62 "2006-02-09T14:30:51Z")
> [@Elza B](#): > > At the regional bee in the sixth grade, I got nervous. There were three of us left. My word was ‘cautious’. Yeah, we had easy freakin’ words at the REGIONAL bee. > > I was shaking and spelled it ‘c-a-t-i-o-u-s’. I KNEW I’d done it the second I finished. :smack: > > I sat down with my parents and :smack: myself because I knew every other word that they gave out after that. The winning word was ‘rancid’. I still hate that word. > > E. Wait … _what?_ You had “cautious” and “rancid” at _Regionals?_ When I came in 3rd place, I was knocked out by “fluoridated,” which I _still_ often spell incorrectly the first time, because _it just doesn’t look right_. The winning word was “pteranodon.” And yet, I work for a man who frequently spells “the” incorrectly in emails. _Le sigh._ ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/63 "2006-02-09T14:56:09Z")
> [@rockle](#): > > Wait … _what?_ You had “cautious” and “rancid” at _Regionals?_ When I came in 3rd place, I was knocked out by “fluoridated,” which I _still_ often spell incorrectly the first time, because _it just doesn’t look right_… Well, “floridated” _ought_ to be a word. “My grampa got tired of living up north because of the cold winters, so he Floridated.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/64 "2006-02-09T15:06:25Z")
I wish I could find a link to the Far Side cartoon of “Primitive Spelling Bees.” Caveman #1: “Cave. C-A-V-E. Cave.” Caveman #2: (thinking)“Oh, great. I’ll probably get Australopithecus.” ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/65 "2006-02-09T15:10:42Z")
> [@rockle](#): > > Wait … _what?_ You had “cautious” and “rancid” at _Regionals?_ When I came in 3rd place, I was knocked out by “fluoridated,” which I _still_ often spell incorrectly the first time, because _it just doesn’t look right_. The winning word was “pteranodon.” > > And yet, I work for a man who frequently spells “the” incorrectly in emails. _Le sigh._ Yep. This was in the Florida panhandle. Of course, I had studied my list like mad, WITH the hard words, so I was kind of surprised we were getting such easy words. I honestly think the words at our school bee were more difficult. E. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/66 "2006-02-09T15:27:27Z")
I got knocked out in our municipal spelling bee by “quondam”. I’m never, ever, ever going to forget how to spell that word. Ever. Even if I try. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/67 "2006-02-09T16:05:20Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > I agree. The mom is a complete lightweight. She should put on an explosive vest filled with nails and blow herself up in the superintendent’s office. > [@threemae](#): > > That wasn’t funny. Yes it was. > [@danceswithcats](#): > > He did. Practicing proctology without a license. He claims to be getting a new perspective. _That_ wasn’t funny. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/68 "2006-02-09T16:54:08Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > I grew up in rural SC and everything that comes with that, including the accents. > > 2nd grade. I’m in the preliminaries of a spelling bee and the woman asks me to spell “cheer”. > > Me: “Cheer C-H-E-E-R Cheer” > Her: “I’m sorry that’s incorrect…” > > Her: “Cheer. C-H-A-I-R Cheer.” > [@Bricker](#): > > That’s the reason for asking for the word to be used in a sentence… Three chairs for the three guests of honour! ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/69 "2006-02-09T17:05:35Z")
Huh. I must be the only poster who never won a spelling bee. Hell, I never even won at the individual class level. Spell check is my best friend. at one point ( I think 9th grade or so), we had a battery of standadized tests. Got the results, every category but one I scored in the high 90’s. Spelling? 47th percentile. ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/70 "2006-02-09T17:15:13Z")
> [@wring](#): > > …( I think 9th grade or so), we had a battery of standadized tests. Got the results, every category but one I scored in the high 90’s. Spelling? 47th percentile. Aww. Below standad. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/71 "2006-02-09T17:17:20Z")
> [@Charger](#): > > Aww. Below standad. see? I said spell check was my friend - I don’t _use_ my friends. 😉 ( :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/72 "2006-02-09T20:35:21Z")
I feel so left out. I don’t even _remember_ having spelling bees in school. (I know we had spelling contests, informally, in the classroom, but I don’t recall “events.”) I would have done very, very, well. Do they have Spelling Bees for adults? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Lilairen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lilairen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilairen)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/73 "2006-02-09T21:37:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I got knocked out in our municipal spelling bee by “quondam”. I’m never, ever, ever going to forget how to spell that word. Ever. Even if I try. “Bureaucracy.” It’s amazing how getting it wrong in public fixes it in the mind, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/74 "2006-02-10T03:03:04Z")
Eighth grade. _Philadelphia Bulletin_ spelling bee regionals. (And if you never even heard of the now-defunct _Bulletin_, that’ll give you an idea of how long ago **that** was!) My parents weren’t gin drinkers, so I simply had no way of knowing that “rickey” isn’t spelled R-I-Q-U-E. (I still have no clue why that seemed like a logical guess to me, though. Maybe I was thinking of “risque”?) Seventh place. I did get a nice dictionary as a consolation prize, though, with a sticker in the front with my name and everything. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still use that dictionary, falling apart though it is. Why **do** spelling-bee knockouts stick with us so long? I couldn’t for the life of me remember details about the shots I missed on the basketball team or the track tournament where I came in last or my low test score in freshman calculus. But my knockout word in the big spelling bee is like my major bicycle crashes—I’ll remember it forever. I still wince a bit when I see it in print. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/75 "2006-02-10T03:18:18Z")
I guess it’s because you’re up there by yourself, so it’s public as well as vulnerable. I actually don’t remember the word I missed in the Long Island finals in sixth grade (I thought it was picayune for a long time, but I saw a video a while back and found that wasn’t it). I remember I blew “aorta” in fifth grade. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/76 "2006-02-10T03:58:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Eighth grade. _Philadelphia Bulletin_ spelling bee regionals. (And if you never even heard of the now-defunct _Bulletin_, that’ll give you an idea of how long ago **that** was!) > > My parents weren’t gin drinkers, so I simply had no way of knowing that “rickey” isn’t spelled R-I-Q-U-E. > > (I still have no clue why that seemed like a logical guess to me, though. Maybe I was thinking of “risque”?) > > Seventh place. > > I did get a nice dictionary as a consolation prize, though, with a sticker in the front with my name and everything. 🙂 🙂 🙂 I still use that dictionary, falling apart though it is. > > Why **do** spelling-bee knockouts stick with us so long? I couldn’t for the life of me remember details about the shots I missed on the basketball team or the track tournament where I came in last or my low test score in freshman calculus. > > But my knockout word in the big spelling bee is like my major bicycle crashes—I’ll remember it forever. I still wince a bit when I see it in print. ^5 **Kimstu** I took first place in 7th grade at my school, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary, courtesy of the Bulletin, is like yours, quite shopworn but still lives within reach of my desk. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/77 "2006-02-10T04:22:29Z")
R E V O L U T I O N A R Y Not, “E R Y” sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/78 "2006-02-10T04:28:22Z")
If anybody still cares, [there’s not going to be a lawsuit](http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/09/spelling.bee.ap/index.html). > [@AP](#): > > After meetings and phone calls, a one-time deal was reached Thursday: The top three eighth-graders from Washoe County will go to Las Vegas. > > “The decision is in the best interest of the students involved and it ensures that threatened legal action by a local attorney would not block the state contest, which would have harmed students from across the state,” the district said in a statement. > > It won’t happen again. In the future, all students, parents and teachers will sign a statement spelling out that they understand the rules. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/79 "2006-02-10T04:32:37Z")
> [@AP](#): > > In the future, all students, parents and teachers will sign a statement **spelling out** that they understand the rules. This is why people shoot editors… ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573/80 "2006-02-10T04:57:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If anybody still cares, [there’s not going to be a lawsuit](http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/09/spelling.bee.ap/index.html). Now they’ve made the invalid presumption that the adults can and will read the rules beforehand. The parents of the next poor little Woofy Putzington are going to rattle the litigation saber faster than you can say, “Told ya so.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-bent-b-e-n-t-bent/343573.md?page=5)