Scroo Grammer. Hows Yer Speling.
May 30, 2008 5:33 PM Subscribe
In honor of tonight’s Scripps National Spelling Bee final, take a stab at these spelling tests – Scripps Test, MSNBC Test.
Previous Spelling Bee posts -- A, B, C, D.
Previous Spelling Bee posts -- A, B, C, D.
Among my Scripps words were "eidetic" and "loquacity". Heh.
posted by cortex at 5:51 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by cortex at 5:51 PM on May 30, 2008
I got all 25 write.
posted by netbros at 5:51 PM on May 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by netbros at 5:51 PM on May 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
Did you have to specify the umlaut?
No, I guess I would have struck out in the real Spelling Bee.
I got Appaloosa wrong, so go figure.
posted by pravit at 6:08 PM on May 30, 2008
No, I guess I would have struck out in the real Spelling Bee.
I got Appaloosa wrong, so go figure.
posted by pravit at 6:08 PM on May 30, 2008
the correct spelling is Bo-Day-Shus! Sorry, here's a copy of our home game.
posted by jonmc at 6:31 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by jonmc at 6:31 PM on May 30, 2008
Bo-Day-Shus? Sir! Spelling is not situational! Words are not your playthings! To be spelt according to your own personal whim! That way lies moral decline and perdition!
posted by subgear at 6:57 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by subgear at 6:57 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
23. I'm a long way from the days when I won spelling bees, but a quick review of me MeFi posts could have told anyone that. One error was a typo that I saw but that I was too lazy to correct, so that's pretty much par for the course as well.
posted by spiderwire at 6:58 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by spiderwire at 6:58 PM on May 30, 2008
me MeFi posts
Note that this isn't a typo, it's merely part of me pirate dialect. Yarr.
posted by spiderwire at 7:00 PM on May 30, 2008
Note that this isn't a typo, it's merely part of me pirate dialect. Yarr.
posted by spiderwire at 7:00 PM on May 30, 2008
Scripps can suck my dieresis.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 7:03 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 7:03 PM on May 30, 2008
me MeFi posts
Note that this isn't a typo, it's merely part of me pirate dialect. Yarr.
This blogger I used to read once posted that he had a search hit for 'massage me breasts,' which when said repeatedly in a pirate voice becomes unnacountably hilarious.
posted by jonmc at 7:13 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
Note that this isn't a typo, it's merely part of me pirate dialect. Yarr.
This blogger I used to read once posted that he had a search hit for 'massage me breasts,' which when said repeatedly in a pirate voice becomes unnacountably hilarious.
posted by jonmc at 7:13 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
So I saw twenty minutes of the bee over dinner. Didn't realize this was the national bee.
An Indian fellow walks up to the stage, and the judges say his word.
"Numbnut?" he asks. Audience laughs because they know he's mangled it. Meanwhile the poor guy looks perplexed. He turns to his parents who are also laughing.
"No, numnah," judges respond.
"Ohhhh," deep sigh of relief. "Numnah!" As if when he was one year old, he learned to say "mom" and then "dad" and then "numnah." Third on his thousand-page mental catalog of words. And then he spells it correctly.
posted by theiconoclast31 at 7:27 PM on May 30, 2008
An Indian fellow walks up to the stage, and the judges say his word.
"Numbnut?" he asks. Audience laughs because they know he's mangled it. Meanwhile the poor guy looks perplexed. He turns to his parents who are also laughing.
"No, numnah," judges respond.
"Ohhhh," deep sigh of relief. "Numnah!" As if when he was one year old, he learned to say "mom" and then "dad" and then "numnah." Third on his thousand-page mental catalog of words. And then he spells it correctly.
posted by theiconoclast31 at 7:27 PM on May 30, 2008
s if when he was one year old, he learned to say "mom" and then "dad" and then "numnah." numa.
No, that was this kid.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:44 PM on May 30, 2008
No, that was this kid.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:44 PM on May 30, 2008
Pretty much what inedita said. 24 on the Scripps test. I'm the spelling queen and I can't even believe some of the words they dragged out. Caca-what? I've never forgiven my 70s era schooling for being too hip for spelling bees. One contest I could have won - and they had to not do it in those years.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:02 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:02 PM on May 30, 2008
23 on the Scripps. (You mean it's not cacawithes? And then I got appaloosa right but spelled "harassment" with two Rs. Speling is Haard!)
posted by Crabby Appleton at 8:07 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by Crabby Appleton at 8:07 PM on May 30, 2008
25 on teh Scripps! I only knew "cacoethes" because of Wm. F. Buckley, which is pretty much the only nice thing I have to say about him.
And where's the love for "miscible"?
posted by dogrose at 9:18 PM on May 30, 2008
And where's the love for "miscible"?
posted by dogrose at 9:18 PM on May 30, 2008
I pressed the button and heard the word: "Sig-net".
Oh, easy, I thought. Signet, like the book company. A signet ring. I typed it in.
But then, the definition -- a young swan? And a warning: "Please pay careful attention to the definition and part of speech. This word has a homonym or a near homonym."
Oh shits! What could it be?
And then, out of the fog, I see a girl surrounded by constellations...
"Feel it..." she called. "Feel the cosmos... Cygnus the swan is flying home again againagainagain..."
She spun away into the void.
Cygnus? But... wait, that's it! Cygnet! Thank you, creepy isometric Japanese girl!
It was correct.
And that's the story of how taking the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee test got the Katamari Damacy theme song stuck in my head all day.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:38 PM on May 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
Oh, easy, I thought. Signet, like the book company. A signet ring. I typed it in.
But then, the definition -- a young swan? And a warning: "Please pay careful attention to the definition and part of speech. This word has a homonym or a near homonym."
Oh shits! What could it be?
And then, out of the fog, I see a girl surrounded by constellations...
"Feel it..." she called. "Feel the cosmos... Cygnus the swan is flying home again againagainagain..."
She spun away into the void.
Cygnus? But... wait, that's it! Cygnet! Thank you, creepy isometric Japanese girl!
It was correct.
And that's the story of how taking the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee test got the Katamari Damacy theme song stuck in my head all day.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:38 PM on May 30, 2008 [3 favorites]
Also, the original Grand Theft Auto reminded me of how to spell "guernsey".
Video games really are a great teaching tool.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:40 PM on May 30, 2008
Video games really are a great teaching tool.
posted by Rhaomi at 9:40 PM on May 30, 2008
You know, for a split second I thought, "shit, spelling stuff off a website will be easy if I can read it".
posted by mindsound at 9:50 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by mindsound at 9:50 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]
This is a bit easier than on TV because you can use the internet.
posted by jimmythefish at 11:41 PM on May 30, 2008
posted by jimmythefish at 11:41 PM on May 30, 2008
God, I wish we had these things in the UK. I might've won something while at Primary School, other than the disdain of my peers for being a smart arse.
Not that I did very well on the Scripps one, getting 'cacoëthes', 'Appaloosa' and 'pinyin' wrong - I'm obviously completely crap at guessing words I've never heard before, which is presumably the skill key to winning these things. Also, I like the way the words flowed, with complete bastards like 'cacoëthes' and 'galimatias' popping up after a run of piss easy ones.
posted by jack_mo at 2:06 AM on May 31, 2008
Not that I did very well on the Scripps one, getting 'cacoëthes', 'Appaloosa' and 'pinyin' wrong - I'm obviously completely crap at guessing words I've never heard before, which is presumably the skill key to winning these things. Also, I like the way the words flowed, with complete bastards like 'cacoëthes' and 'galimatias' popping up after a run of piss easy ones.
posted by jack_mo at 2:06 AM on May 31, 2008
Caca-whatthefuck?
Heh. As soon as I saw this I guessed that the word was cacoëthes (which I spelled without the diaeresis, but got a perfect score anyway, so apparently they don't insist on it).
posted by languagehat at 5:48 AM on May 31, 2008
Heh. As soon as I saw this I guessed that the word was cacoëthes (which I spelled without the diaeresis, but got a perfect score anyway, so apparently they don't insist on it).
posted by languagehat at 5:48 AM on May 31, 2008
without the diaeresis,
a spoonful of Kaopectate will clear that right up, dude.
posted by jonmc at 6:52 AM on May 31, 2008
a spoonful of Kaopectate will clear that right up, dude.
posted by jonmc at 6:52 AM on May 31, 2008
23 on the Scripps. Messed up harassment and of course cacoethes. Though I am so using that now since it is such a great word!
posted by misha at 8:28 AM on May 31, 2008
posted by misha at 8:28 AM on May 31, 2008
23 on the Scripps.
got a perfect score anyway
25 on teh Scripps!
23
24
etc
you people terrify me. my theory of mind is not up to the task of understanding or relating to any of you.
posted by episteborg at 10:11 AM on May 31, 2008
got a perfect score anyway
25 on teh Scripps!
23
24
etc
you people terrify me. my theory of mind is not up to the task of understanding or relating to any of you.
posted by episteborg at 10:11 AM on May 31, 2008
Sameer Mishra, National Spelling Bee Champion, Spells "Guerdon" For Victory.
posted by ericb at 1:58 PM on May 31, 2008
posted by ericb at 1:58 PM on May 31, 2008
Another 22; I'll be with the other 22s, drouning our sorroz.
Some of those words seemed super simple, but they were words I use or at least read. What's the tactic for spelling bee contestants? Is it important for them to read widely or do they memorise word lists?
posted by eponymouse at 4:34 PM on May 31, 2008
Some of those words seemed super simple, but they were words I use or at least read. What's the tactic for spelling bee contestants? Is it important for them to read widely or do they memorise word lists?
posted by eponymouse at 4:34 PM on May 31, 2008
you people terrify me. my theory of mind is not up to the task of understanding or relating to any of you.
If it makes you feel better, I only got 21 on Scripps. My misspellings: pinyan, cacaouithese, missible, benee, Gurnsey, galamatias, and signet.
posted by flatluigi at 4:57 PM on May 31, 2008
If it makes you feel better, I only got 21 on Scripps. My misspellings: pinyan, cacaouithese, missible, benee, Gurnsey, galamatias, and signet.
posted by flatluigi at 4:57 PM on May 31, 2008
Hell, I rolled a 19.
C'mon, D&D joke, c'mon, D&D joke, c'mon D&D joke --
DAMNIT
Your humor saving throw fails. You have died. Dump this screen? (Y/N)?
posted by spiderwire at 6:18 PM on May 31, 2008
C'mon, D&D joke, c'mon, D&D joke, c'mon D&D joke --
DAMNIT
Your humor saving throw fails. You have died. Dump this screen? (Y/N)?
posted by spiderwire at 6:18 PM on May 31, 2008
"Ohhhh," deep sigh of relief. "Numnah!" As if when he was one year old, he learned to say "mom" and then "dad" and then "numnah."
This story was so funny, and then I saw the video, and it was even funnier. That was the kid who ended up winning, by the way.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:05 PM on May 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
This story was so funny, and then I saw the video, and it was even funnier. That was the kid who ended up winning, by the way.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:05 PM on May 31, 2008 [1 favorite]
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I was able to get 24/25 on the Scripps test. The one I missed was a word I'd never encountered before. Caca-whatthefuck?
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 5:43 PM on May 30, 2008