# Please explain the appeal of spelling bees to me. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103 "2013-08-01T19:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103/41 "2013-08-08T11:05:07Z")
It’s just a contest, who’s better at what than someone else. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103/42 "2013-08-08T12:00:42Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > In French they have “dictées”, which are like spelling bees except that you have to transcribe an entire passage. This is because in French it is common for a single pronunciation to have many possible spellings, and you need context to know the correct one to use. > [@](#): > > A spelling bee is a celebration of collective stupidity. Well, if we’re gonna compare collective stupidities: the French win. Who invented the concept of an _entire_ language where _every_ word is spelled funny with silent letters, which sometimes outnumber the letters which are actually pronounced? English picked up funny spelling because it evolved from many sources and adopted weirdness along the way. But French is _designed_ to have weird spelling. That’s dumb! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103/43 "2013-08-09T17:12:23Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > I believe “Ursprache” was a winning word in one recently. Which really surprised me, since it just combines two well-known German words (by well-known I mean by those who don’t speak German fluently) - but then I think the loser may have spelled it with the “sch”… Right, German spelling makes good sense once you’re used to it. But this is a good example of what can happen if you aren’t. Compare: schnee schmal schlagen schreien schwarz all of which begin with /sh/ and then go to a consonant, and have the /sh/ spelled sch. And that’s what you do with those consonants: except in written dialect (“Sneewittchen”) you don’t begin words with sl- or sw- or sm- in German. But then you have: spinne stock which in most dialects of German (excluding mainly the far north) are pronounced with the s representing /sh/. And that’s the way it’s done with sp and st. … no sch before the consonant. Easy to learn, I agree. But you have to learn it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103/44 "2013-08-09T17:27:18Z")
Back before computers with their automatic spell checks and red squiggley lines, people still needed to communicate in a uniform fashion. So European honeybees were genetically programmed to sting young children who misspelled words. This also caused generations of children to freak out when a bee was in a room. Many children died of anaphylatic shock caused by allergic reactions to misspelling. Back in the day, spelling bee contests were as tense as gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, but with the added excitement that perhaps the snotty kid would actually snuff it. Or that you would go home without your own kid. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-the-appeal-of-spelling-bees-to-me/665103.md?page=2)