The National Spelling Bee Struggling towards Ursprache A peculiarly North American entertainment Jun 8th 2006 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition IN BASEBALL, you get three strikes. But at a spelling bee, one misplaced letter means you are O-U-T. That makes for a gripping contest, which is why two movies—“Spellbound” and “Akeelah and the Bee”—have been made about this all-American institution. And last week, for the first time in its 81-year history, the final rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee were broadcast live on prime-time network television. The struggle began with 10m spellers, all under the age of 16. Regional bees, mostly sponsored by local newspapers, whittled the number down to 275. This battle-hardened group came to a posh hotel in Washington, DC, for the final. By the time ABC started broadcasting, only 13 Uber-spellers remained. The pressure was excruciating, and not just for the parents. At a press conference before the broadcast, the children sat on the stage and discussed nerves, training regimens and the shock of seeing the favourite ejected in round seven. Samir Patel, a 12-year-old home-schooler from Texas (under “school”, his biography lists the “Patel Achievement Academy”), came second last year. But this year he stumbled on “eremacausis”. As probably none of the adults in the audience knew, this means: “gradual oxidation from exposure to air and moisture, as in the decay of old trees or of dead animals.” Any word in Webster's “Third New International Dictionary” may come up, which explains why, as the contest goes on, the testing terms tend to get more foreign. With Samir eliminated, the new favourite was Rajiv Tarigopula, a son of two doctors who came fourth last year. (Asian-Americans tend to do particularly well in the Bee; in 2005, they took the top four places.) Was Rajiv happy to see his rival eliminated, asked a callous journalist? “No,” said Rajiv, “it's a competition against the words, not the people.” This noble sentiment won him a round of applause. Striding up to the microphone and coolly rattling off words that would baffle a polymath, Rajiv looked like a winner. But he tripped on Heiligenscheinand came fourth again. The final duel was between two girls. Finola Mei Hwa Hackett, a Canadian, was perhaps lucky to be given so many French words, but her nerve failed her on Weltschmerz, which she began with a “v”. Thirteen-year-old Kerry Close of New Jersey then had to spell kundalini and Ursprache to win. When the pronouncer pronounced the last word, the look on Kerry's face told 8.5m viewers that this was one she had revised. She nailed it. The crowd, especially her mother, were ecstatic. It was a great show. Which makes one wonder, as with so many North American sports: why do only North Americans play it?
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