# Scripps Spelling Bee not even all English?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripps-spelling-bee-not-even-all-english/755792>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 27, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripps-spelling-bee-not-even-all-english/755792 "2016-05-27T05:30:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 40

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scripps-spelling-bee-not-even-all-english/755792/40 "2016-05-28T05:55:13Z")

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Some snippets from **nearwildheaven** ’s other thread:

> [@The National Spelling Bee is later this week](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-national-spelling-bee-is-later-this-week/755383/2):
>
> These kids are pretty amazing, if only in terms of work ethic and memory. The national Math Bee kids are even more incredible.

> [@The National Spelling Bee is later this week](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-national-spelling-bee-is-later-this-week/755383/3):
>
> The Geography Bee is pretty impressive too. These kids have to know about places that locals probably have never heard of.

So there really is a Math Bee? Now, that seems like something worth making a big deal of. Who sponsors it? How advanced is the math that these little kids do? Are we talking about anything like algebra and beyond? I’ll bet they don’t just memorize long lists of obscure integration formulas.

And Geography is a useful subject to know about too, beyond just memorizing place names and locations. Who sponsors that? National Geographic I’d guess?

But memorizing lots of obscure words? (Or even doping out the spellings using reason, logic, and Greek/Latin prefixes?) To make a nationwide spelling contest over?

> [@The National Spelling Bee is later this week](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-national-spelling-bee-is-later-this-week/755383/4):
>
> I watched the finals this evening, and fast-forwarded my Tivo once it got down to the last two boys and I realized they knew all the words. At that point, it wasn’t particularly interesting.

Uh, yeah. What **Little\_Pig** wrote a few posts above:

> [@Little\_Pig](#):
>
> After watching this kid I had the mixed respect one gives to someone who memorizes the phone book.

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