Wouldja believe that the hubby’s an engineer? 
The spelling gene is triggered by staying in at recess.
I missed “serrafine” in the State bee in Washington in 7th grade, coming in 11th because of that error. It means “having teeth or serrations”, though they wouldn’t define or use in sentences for us (my recollection). I guessed Greek and spelled it “ceraphine”.
I still have and use the dictionary they gave me, and I still have not forgiven Governor Booth Gardner for telling me I couldn’t get in to Seattle Prep now.
Honest, the best spelling and language instruction I’ve ever had was the Greek and Latin roots that our 5th grade English instructor, Tom Tivnan, made part of the vocabulary drills.
Wherever you are, thanks, Mr. T !
Counterfeit. That was in my school spelling bee. But that same year (4th or 5th grade, I’m not sure) I won my Hebrew spelling bee. The last word was the word for umbrella.
It was sixth grade – maybe seventh, but I’m pretty sure it was sixth.
The word? Luau. I was a young lad in the hills of West Virginia. What in the world did I know about Hawaiian or Polynesian or whatever-background-they-are celebrations?
So I forgive myself for not knowing how to spell it correctly. I will never forgive myself for how I spelled it, though.
Are you ready for this?
L - O - O - O - W
Looow. That’s right. Count 'em. That’s three "O"s in a row. Had I been just a tad more creative, I would have thrown in an hyphen. Loo-ow. But nooooooooooo. (See, I still like to string "O"s together.)
I take pride in proper spelling. I am the spell checker for all the folks in my office and among my friends. I’m sharing this shame with you folks in the hope that it will wipe it from my memory.
District level - first-place winner would go to county level:
6th grade: prairie (I spelled it “prarie”) - came in second.
7th grade: pharaoh (I spelled it “pharoah”) - came in second.
8th grade: pointelle (I spelled it “pointele”) [but I nailed “pharmacopoeia”!] - came in second
Mis-spelling words with “p” and ending up number 2. Oh, the irony.
[BeeGees]
It’s only words…
[/BeeGees]
Make that 3 people that went to the National Spelling Bee.
It was many, many years ago (I’m 40), but I remember it well.
The pronouncer gave me the word. I could have asked him to repeat it, or give me a definition; but, nooooo… I knew it. So I proceeded to spell it: “o-s-c-i-l-l-a-t-e”.
WRONG.
The word was “ocelet”. Damnit,I knew how to spell that,too.I thought I should have gotten credit for spelling a tougher word, at least.
Oh,well.
Make that 3 people that went to the National Spelling Bee.
It was many, many years ago (I’m 40), but I remember it well.
The pronouncer gave me the word. I could have asked him to repeat it, or give me a definition; but, nooooo… I knew it. So I proceeded to spell it: “o-s-c-i-l-l-a-t-e”.
WRONG.
The word was “ocelot”. Damnit,I knew how to spell that,too.I thought I should have gotten credit for spelling a tougher word, at least.
Oh,well.
I still remember it: health
When I got back to math class, the teacher asked what I’d missed on and would I spell it.
I got it wrong again, so he said “This is what I tell them every year- they disrupt the whole school for nothing!”
I’m a little fuzzy on 4th & 5th grade. We had practice bees at least once, and I may have missed “judgment” in that one. But I think it went like this:
4th grade: Won in my classroom, then went up against the other class winners in myt school. I was eliminated on “spatula”–spelled it “spatchula”. (I don’t think I even knew what a spatula was.)
The next year, 5th grade, I was eliminated in my class–probably on “judgment”, which I thought, by English phonics should be “judgement”. Angela Golladay won and went on to the citywide bee.
6th grade: Same town, smaller school. Won for my school and went to the citywide. Was one of the last ten or twelve contenders–lost on “womp”, which I spelled “wamp”.
Freakin’ onomotopaeia!
(“Womp” refers to a short surge in electrical power. I had never encountered the word before. --Nor, quite probably, since.)
- anoint
- both are real words, ‘cooly’ is offensive slang.
- supercede
- irresistible
- development
- both are acceptable, ‘alright’ is nonstandard
- separate
- tyranny
- harass
- dessicate
- indispensable
- receive
- pursue
- recommend
- desparate
- liquefy
- seize
- cemetery
- subpoena
- definitely
- occasion
- consensus
- inadvertent
- miniscule
- judgement
- innoculate
- drunkenness
- occurrence
- dissipate
- weird
- a lot
- accomodate
- embarassment
- ecstacy
- repetition
- battalion
- despair
- irritable
- accidentally
- liaison
- memento
- broccoli
- millennium
- yield
- existence
- independent
- sacrilegious
- insistent
- exceed
- privilege
Obviously, I’ve checked my answers, but only after I made my guesses. Scout’s honour.
In third grade, we’d have weekly spelling tests, and I aced them all… except for once, when I missed a word that had “exc” as the first letters. I have long since forgotten what the word was, but I think I spelled it “ecx-”. No big deal now, but it was for me back then.
The word that got me back in the 7th grade was ‘tyrannize’, so I paused on number 8 of this quiz, just to make sure.
Onomatopoeia. Now there’s a word to stumble over…
Ah, spelling bees. I loved them. Never made it past district, but I won damn near every classroom bee I was in, and two school bees. The second school bee was just for kicks, for some sort of Parent Night thing. I almost lost that one. It was down to me–the last kid had missed his, and I just had to spell one more right for the win. My word was “sashay.” I repeated it, then started to say “s…, no wait, could you use it in a sentence, please?” I was going to spell “sachet.” The teacher gave me the definition and a sentence, and I got the right one. Everyone applauded, and I saw my parents out there just beaming. My mom gave me a big ol’ hug, and said “nice save!” I was 12.
My first schoolwide was when I was 10, in the fifth grade. The runner-up (who to this day, 23 years later, is still one of my best friends), missed “turbulence.” I got it right, then correctly spelled “precipitate.” At the district, I placed seventh. I missed “insolvent,” because THAT WOMAN pronounced it “inSULvent.” Three times I asked her to repeat it. I asked for a definition. NOTHING was gonna get THAT WOMAN to say “SOL” instead of “SUL.” Having never heard the word before SHE mispronounced it, I just wasn’t sure. So, I spelled it HER way. My mom and dad hugged me. “She said it wrong, honey,” they said. “She really did.” Then they took me out for ice cream.
The ice cream helped to temper the bitterness. Sort of. 
I didn’t GET to win in the fifth grade. The rules were. SAYIT S-P-E-L-L-I-T SAYIT. My teacher said my friend didn’t say it before, told him to sit down. I stood up for him, saying “But he DID say it!” And that ***** made ME sit down!
In 5th grade I missed squirrel. I’m such a chowderhead.
I must have been in it in 6th grade, too, because I remember it was a month after I was on Wheel of Fortune. On national television and everything. I was fine on that show…yet at the spelling bee I was a nervous wreck! Why was I more nervous at a dinky school spelling bee than on Wheel of Fortune!!
I messed up on bulletin.
BTW, I like the ghost—>toast—>must be goast! thing. How cute!
You expect me to remember thirty seven years ago? Of course, I do.
Gray. Spelt it “grey” because my father worked for Greyhound.
Later knew a designer who would spell it “gray” for a warm gray because “A” is a warm letter, and “grey” for a cool grey because “E” is a cool letter. The funny thing is, it made perfect sense to me, so I do that, too. (Also sort of an “in memorium” thing, too.)
Sixth grade: “engoyable”. Dammit.
Someone mentioned geography bees earlier: the National Geography Bee started in when I was in sixth grade. I won my school all three years I was eligible (6th, 7th, 8th), went to state all three years, and, in seventh grade, I was one badly-interpreted answer (I said it right, they decided it was wrong) away from winning.
Dammit.
7th grade, I mispelled “extrapolate”. The bitch said it “ex-TRAP-ehl-ate”, not “ex-TRAP-ohl-ate”. Whore.
Won 8th grade, though…the final word was “playwright”. I’d be damned if I let that one get away from me.
Yes. When I was little and telling my Nana about my spelling bee, she remembered what word she went out on. She must have been 60+ at the time, but clearly remembered that “tongue” was her downfall.
I can’t spell. Genes, don’t care, mental block, aliens removed that part of my brain…whatever, I can’t do it. I will probably screw something up in this post. (It won’t be on purpose either, I’m just that bad.) I have probably screwed up the spelling of a word in every post I have made. (On average.)
I won my grade spelling bee in sixth grade. Science words. I can spell peroxide. And all sorts of other cool words that were never on a spelling test in my school but I picked up from my dad. Heh.
Totally died on every other spelling test/bee/quiz/question ever asked. I can’t spell.
In my little version of Grover’s Corners, the only real Spelling Bee I recall was when I was in 6th grade. The whole thing had a slap-dash feel to it. I suspect our local burghers heard of such a thing going on in nearby hamlets and declared that our neighbors wouldn’t show us up, no-sir-ee-bob! Anywho, I being one of the better groomed and well behaved of the ruffians was invited to compete. As it happened, I was also part of the 3 person school newspaper staff (I had a tolerance for exposure to mimeo fluid.) When I told our “editor” that I was going to be competing in the Bee, she said, “Great (or was it grate?),” and enlisted me to report about the event in an article for the paper.
So, things are sailing along. We’re getting into the late rounds and the early favorites are falling. I’m still in the game but I’m experiencing a dilemma. How can I objectively write about the event as a reporter, and continue to compete? What if I win? Then I would have to recuse myself from writing the story. But that wouldn’t be right either. I made a commitment! But it would be absurd to “throw the fight”.
By now it’s down to me and one other guy. The next word, we both get right. Now it’s back to me…and the word I’m supposed to spell…
“Anxiety”
6th grade school spelling bee: Kumquat.
Fucking kumquat. My best friend, Mikal, was sitting in the second row in the auditorium trying desperately to mouth the spelling to me. All I remember is starting with a “c” and watching Mikal shake her head.
7th grade district final: Chrysanthemum. To this day I swear I spelled it correctly and she heard me wrong. Even my sister backs me up on this count.