Apples and oranges I know but while reading this thread this story was the TV
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4691748.stm
I’m sure she would love the problems that this thread is talking about.
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.”
You say this as if it were a bad thing. :dubious:
Does anyone know if this actually is a rule, or is it just something the school spokesperson made up after the fact? That will significantly change what I think about the case.
Daniel
And that’s why you ALWAYS ask for the definition!
Scripps-Howard official rules state that appeals must be submitted in writing immediately, unless five or two spellers remain (based on Option A or Option B in the rules).
*15. Any question relating to the spelling of a word should be referred to the designated official immediately in writing on the official appeal form. The official appeal form should contain space for the following: the word in question, the name of the speller, and the reason for the appeal.
- Appeals may be filed by a parent, legal guardian, or teacher of the speller who is seeking reinstatement in the contest. The judges will not entertain appeals from individuals seeking to dislodge another speller from the competition. The deadline for filing an appeal is before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the competition. No appeal will be entertained after that word has been given to another speller. Under Option A, when only five spellers remain, an oral appeal must be made immediately, that is, before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the contest. Under Option B, when only two spellers remain, an oral appeal must be made immediately, that is, before the speller affected would have received his/her next word had he/she stayed in the competition. *
They also state:
*19. The judges are in complete control of the competition. Their decision shall be final on all questions. *
Looks to me like the rules are pretty solid, if this was a Scripps-Howard local bee.
E.
No, I’m sorry, it’s “traumatized”. Now go home and catch some Z’s. 
That’s the reason for asking for the word to be used in a sentence…
[Lipservice to the stupidity of suing over something like this goes here. Couldn’t they just get the kids back into a room, get a list of words, and have them finish again?]
It’s too bad they couldn’t have just stopped the thing and got it right while it was happening. “You should have protested in time” rules don’t bother me when they’re applied to adult professional athletes who are supposed to know the rules of their sport, but when you’re talking about parents and kids at a spelling bee? Come on. Fix it and get it right. Common sense has to factor in to this. It’s not the freaking NFL where the team hustles to the line and tries to run a play to stop a review from happening; it is a childrens’ competition.
I was nearly the victim (so to speak) of this same thing when I was in sixth grade, actually. I was one of two people left in the bee, and my opponent began to spell her word, screwed it up, then started over and got it right. I could hear the audience muttering about it. I ended up winning, so it’s fine. I’m really only telling the story because the word she messed up was “dumbbell.” But if I’d lost because of it, I can say this much: my mother wouldn’t have sued the district and hurt the taxpayers. She’d have done the civilized thing and slashed the judges’ tires.
Thanks - I’m blushing, really. But am I really that predictable? 
And if you want to keep the "Potts"es straight (heh!) think of this: Pottsville is where they make the beer (at the Yeungling brewery); Pottstown is where they drink the beer (in my husband’s Cave, while he’s playing shoot-'em-up games). And Pottstown isn’t entirely ogforsaken, anyway – they used to make Mrs. Smith’s pies here. It ain’t much, but it’s something.
Question: Is a “bear claw” a kind of donut or something? I have never heard of such a thing. Is it tasty? I wonder if I can get my grandmother to make them. What is fastnacht for “bear claw”? Fastnacht Day is in less than three weeks, you know.
I had this happen to me when I was in grade school. Seriously. I started spelling, started over, they said it was right, the next kid went, they changed their minds and said I was wrong. After school, I went home and told my parents. They called the principal. He gave me a “pep talk” and, while I was disappointed, they considered it done. From that point on, I felt uninspired. I never went on to get a PhD. And I was gonna cure AIDS.
I don’t remember what the “misspelled” word even was. I think it may have been repressed.
Burned into my memory:
One time in grade 4 we played that game where you have to make smaller words out of the letters of a big word.
I was the only one in class to find “neon.”
Only to be assured by my teacher that is not actually a word. My fourth-grade early-80s protests - “But it’s in that song by Elton John! And the tag on this T-shirt said it was neon!” were easily dismissed. If only I knew the periodic table at the time.
It burns! To this day, it burns.
But it burns me: I don’t think my mom cares.
here’s a bear claw.
mmm… bear claws…
“My friend told me to cheer up and relax, so I sat down in a chair.”
5th Grade. Park View Elementary. Down to me and one other girl. I get the word “gorgeous”. Sorry, wrong, sit down. She spells the next word right, and goes on to district-wide fame and glory. Probably got a nice letter from the superintendent or something.
But I’m troubled, so that night I go home and look up the word in the dictionary. Hmm, that is exactly how I spelled it. Next day, I go to the library, and ask Mrs. Hudson, the librarian “whaddfuck?”
She says no dear, you spelled “gorgeous” with an “e”.
Um, but it has one, right there before the “ous” part.
She’s so sorry, oh my goodness, that’s right, what was I thinking, oh this is awful, blah and blah and blah.
I felt so bad making the old woman cry (yes, cry) that I said just forget it, as long as she knew I was right, that was fine with me, and I really didn’t want to have to go to that big spelling bee that the winner did anyway.
Except that the next week, the girl that won came down with mono, and guess who had to go anyway?
I thought you were a…you know…guy.
Things have changed a lot since grade school…
From personal experience, grade 4.
“Coral.”
“Can you use it in a sentence?”
“I saw a coral at the beach.”
“Coral. c-o-r-a-l, coral.”
bzzz
Next person.
“Quarrel. Q-u-a-r-r-e-l. Quarrel.”
Um…I misspelled?
Ok edit: “this other contestant, she being a non guy type of girl, …”
I just got off of the phone with a customer at work. She was giving me some numbers given to her by the representative of a credit card clearinghouse…
Her: I have a chine number…
ME: a wha?
Her: a chine number.
ME: could you spell that.
Her: sigh. c-h-a-i-n. A chine number.
Her: I have an eye-ten number
ME: a wha?
Her: an eye-ten number
ME: could you spell that one again?
Her: A-T-E-N-T
Damn the south.
Sam