Guest EXPAT Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 Anyone else watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN? They are down to 2 now. This always cracks me up. I love how they narrate the show like you are watching a PGA golf tournament. These kids are totally amazing. I won my 6th grade spelling bee on the word "paragraph". But I lost state during the next to last round on the word "guarantee". I said "g a" before I realized it; then I said "oh shit" into the microphone. I did get a big laugh. My Mother was not happy. . . Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 "Guetapens" is the winning word !!! The winner is Snigdha Nandipati. She is 14 from San Diego, California. And we have a winner. This is always so amazing to watch. These kids are fantastic. Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 Aww your mom is so cute I want a son like you... Anyone else watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN? They are down to 2 now. This always cracks me up. I love how they narrate the show like you are watching a PGA golf tournament. These kids are totally amazing. I won my 6th grade spelling bee on the word "paragraph". But I lost state during the next to last round on the word "guarantee". I said "g a" before I realized it; then I said "oh shit" into the microphone. I did get a big laugh. My Mother was not happy. . . Quote
Members MsGuy Posted June 1, 2012 Members Posted June 1, 2012 When I google 'guetapens' all I find is a French word meaning ambush or (figuratively) trap. Can you give me a clue, Expat? LOL, are you sure you have it spelled right? Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 When I google 'guetapens' all I find is a French word meaning ambush or (figuratively) trap. Can you give me a clue, Expat? LOL, are you sure you have it spelled right? Definition of guetapens (french origination): ambush, snare, trap <a trick to lure him into some guetapens.> Quote
Members MsGuy Posted June 1, 2012 Members Posted June 1, 2012 So they are using purely foreign words in the National Spelling Bee now? What's the world coming to? And don't try to convince me it's a legitimate loan word. I absolutely refuse to believe a single native speaker of the English language has ever mouthed the words, "The Indians caught the calvary in a guetapens." Oh the Horror...the Shame... Quote
Members MsGuy Posted June 1, 2012 Members Posted June 1, 2012 "Second place went to Stuti Mishra, a 14-year-old eighth grader from Orlando, Florida, who finished in second place after misspelling "schwarmerei," a German word for excessive enthusiasm." When did this travesty start? And why? The only logical explanation I can think of to insert god-awful furriner words would be to shorten the contest before the audience got too bored. Outrageous!!! Oooooo, now I am really pissed. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 Every word I heard in the final rounds I had never heard of before and most of them had foreign origins. But I found every one of them in the Miriam Webster Dictionary. So there must be a plethora of foreign words adopted in the American English language but I doubt that they have been used except in this spelling bee. Quote
AdamSmith Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 And don't try to convince me it's a legitimate loan word. Not even a credit swap derivative word. What in thunderation? Could this trend be some sneaking exercise in politically correct guilt assuagement? Just what cabal cooks up this list? I must inquire of my agent about the market potential for a spelling-bee variant of da Vinci Code. Something sinister is afoot, and on a large scale, as Lovecraft observed. In sum: Who has absquatulated with our spelling bee? Quote
Members lookin Posted June 1, 2012 Members Posted June 1, 2012 So they are using purely foreign words in the National Spelling Bee now? What's the world coming to? Wait till next year. 世界新秩序 . . . 世 - 界 - 新 - 秩 - 序 . . . 世界新秩序 Quote
Guest CharliePS Posted June 1, 2012 Posted June 1, 2012 So they are using purely foreign words in the National Spelling Bee now? What's the world coming to? And don't try to convince me it's a legitimate loan word. I absolutely refuse to believe a single native speaker of the English language has ever mouthed the words, "The Indians caught the calvary in a guetapens." Oh the Horror...the Shame... I assume you meant "cavalry" (ha ha! you lose the spelling bee!). I agree totally that this is a mockery of what an AMERICAN spelling bee should be about. I remember once being mortified as a child when I lost a spelling bee for misspelling "chauffeur," not yet having been introduced to the French diphthongs. Quote
Members MsGuy Posted June 1, 2012 Members Posted June 1, 2012 LOL, Charlie, honest to God, I almost looked up the spelling but something else caught my magpie attention and the moment was lost. ---- Lookin: Quote
Guest gcursor Posted June 2, 2012 Posted June 2, 2012 When I was young and in Junior High school, we would hold informal spelling bees on Fridays in English class. I would win EVERY time. It didn't really matter because all I really impressed was the teacher. One day after winning my 3rd spelling bee THAT DAY, I said aloud, "Okay..I'm bored." All the other kids laughed and teased me saying maybe if I wouldn't be so damned smart then I'd have more fun. Anyway spelling has always been one of my gifts. Some of the things that I've always laughed about (since I spell so good) is the dictionary. I love watching a person look up a word that they can't pronounce...let alone spell. I've always wondered what was the main purpose to a dictionary. Was it to make people who couldn't spell so frustrated that they eventually kill themselves? Shouldnt there be a dictionary that would have multiple mis-spellings and would all route you back to the way the word should be spelled? Another thing that I always wondered about is some of the stupid spelling rules that they tell people to "make them feel good about themselves". I before E except after...Yeah..that works about 2% of the time. My dad is always coming to me asking me for the right way to spell words. But I still make mistakes now and then...although lately I've been using this SPELLING CHALLENGE game on my Nintendo DS which is a VERY fine game although a little expensive. I have managed to claw my way up pretty quickly to level 84 out of a 100. Now I get words that I have NO CLUE what they mean. Although you can still tell certain things about the words even at that level...if they are asking if the word is a noun and it ends in ly or tic or...then it's probably an adjective. If they are looking for a verb and they give you this long word with ing on the end then it's likely a verb. It's just little clues that you pick up on is all. SO if anybody ever wants me to spell-check something for them then please let me know I've gotten used to it by now. gcursor Quote
Members lookin Posted June 2, 2012 Members Posted June 2, 2012 SO if anybody ever wants me to spell-check something for them then please let me know You might give Roger Ailes a call. Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted June 2, 2012 Posted June 2, 2012 Lookin you did it again what am I going to do without you... Lol... Quote
Members lookin Posted June 2, 2012 Members Posted June 2, 2012 Lookin . . . what am I going to do without you... Sounds a bit Jimmy Hoffa to me. Am I - umm - 'going' somewhere? Quote
