Auf Deutsche: Ursprache
Was ist mit den Richtern falsch? Haben sie kein hartes, englische
Wörter zu buchstabieren?
I think they ran out. I bet that it would be one of those odd but phonetic Hawaiian words that would trip the 2nd-place person up–but–
I gotta say, all these words that I had never heard of (and frankly I have heard of a lot of words), and the runner up breezes right through them, and then she starts off weltschmerz–a word that is actually used by English speakers–with a V? Those Canadians.
Has ursprache actually made it into English? If it’s still got the German pronounciation, then it’d be a piece of cake to spell, assuming the person giving the words can pronounce German correctly.
On the subject of Spelling Bees, I recommend reading this fantastic article by Bill Simmons about watching the 2002 Spelling Bee. It’s a hoot. (I don’t know how long this link will be good for.)
And congrats to all the kids. Or as Tony Kornheiser calls them, Twitching Little Freaks!