Comments (24)

1. I got a 90% on this quiz! I won the local bee back in third grade, but lost at the county level – the word that spelled my downfall (pun intended) was ‘shepherd’ – I missed the second e. I’ll never spell it incorrectly again….

   posted by Barry on 5-28-2009 at 11:11 am

2. I got 8/10, which I find to be impressive since I don’t think I have ever used one of those words in my life. I just broke down the parts of the words to the definitions. (I have never been in a spelling bee in my life!)

   I got Chiaroscurist and Serrefine wrong.

   I am proud of myself, “pat on back.”

   posted by Michelle on 5-28-2009 at 11:11 am

3. “Weasel” ended my competitive spelling career back in ’99. After taking the district championship, I went to regionals where I buckled under the intense spelling pressure.

   As soon as I uttered “ess…ell…eee” and the judge reached for the red card, I was hit by cold, harsh reality. The women, sports cars, pools filled with cash, all gone- just like that. The dream was over. Now I spend my days toiling at an engineering research firm, dreaming of what could have been. What should have been. If not for “weasel.”

   posted by Bratlien on 5-28-2009 at 11:24 am

4. When I was in 5th grade, around the 3rd round of the class spelling bee, I got most of the way through my word, looked around, noted that all my friends were out and that I was up there with all these kids I didn’t know or want to hang around with, and then purposefully misspelled “stationary” — I just didn’t want to do it anymore.

   Another spelling bee nightmare came in 4th grade (maybe this led to the 5th grade debacle) when the teacher (who was really mean) gave me “photosynthesis” and then gave the girl next to me something like “pencil” or “table” to spell. Who’s heard of the word photosynthesis when they’re nine?

   posted by MaryAnn on 5-28-2009 at 12:32 pm

5. Wow, 7/10. Better than I expected to do. I’ve only ever heard of “logorrhea.” Which my spell checker doesn’t recognize. Oh well.

   posted by Tracie on 5-28-2009 at 12:58 pm

6. I got 80%. The following two are the ones I got wrong…

   Question 8

   “A melodic tone.” (2005)
   Your answer:
   Appogiatura
   Correct answer:
   Appoggiatura
   Question 9

   “A parent language, especially one reconstructed from the evidence of later languages.” (2006)
   Your answer:
   Yursprache
   Correct answer:
   Ursprache

   posted by Tavin on 5-28-2009 at 1:05 pm

7. I got 8 out of 10 on this quiz. In the 10th grade, I won my local Knights of Columbus spelling bee, but when it came time for regionals, no one at the K of C ever called me about time, place, etc.

   posted by Paul on 5-28-2009 at 1:09 pm

8. Oh you went to Lakeview as well? So did I! I graduated in ’97. I wonder if any of my teachers were around when you were- Mrs. Riker, Mrs. Petillo, Mrs. Gresko, Mrs. Glasser, or Mr. Rainier?

   I actually remember doing two bees, but I don’t remember what grade I was in. I do remember that the first time I was in a bee I lost on the word “porcelain”. The second time I actually made it to the county bee, but I died on the word “gangrene”. I’d never heard of the word before, so naturally, I spelled it like the color- gangreen. i was so close!! :P

   posted by Tracy on 5-28-2009 at 1:09 pm

9. I won the school spelling bee, so I went to county… I misspelled cheeseburger. I was so mad! They gave me the word and I was like, that’s so easy – so I spelled it cheesebuger. Dang!

   posted by Case on 5-28-2009 at 1:28 pm

10. In 5th grade I stuck in there to the last two kids, then misspelled “stereo,” saying instead “sterio.” Stereo! I guess I just choked under the pressure. I too gave up on my spelling dreams and instead became an engineer.

    posted by erininhouston on 5-28-2009 at 1:45 pm

11. Woo, nailed it!

    The ones that knocked me out of contention that I remember were “jaundice” (they pronounced it with a t sound instead of a d, but I likely still wouldn’t have got it) and “anneal” (when they just went through the word list alphabetically)

    posted by the Cosmic Jester on 5-28-2009 at 5:20 pm

12. Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

    Woo-hoo! What really helped me out was knowing French and Spanish. Thank you, Latin!

    posted by PJ on 5-28-2009 at 7:08 pm

13. The word I remember knocking me out was “conqueror”…

    posted by Chris M on 5-28-2009 at 8:52 pm

14. I got to the finals of the Colorado State Spelling Bee in 1993, and then got so nervous that I totally slaughtered the first word they gave me in the final round – mutagenic. It has since been a word that I use when there’s no reason at all to use it. To show the universe, I think, that I can too spell it.

    posted by Anneke on 5-28-2009 at 9:03 pm

15. Well, I got to my regional bee twice. The first time, in 6th grade, I placed 51st out of 51 (so only 50 spots from going to Nationals! lol) and the word I missed was ‘fantastically’. For some reason, my brain decided to spell ‘fantistically’ :(

    My second appearance, in 8th grade, I placed 6th, which was substantially better, but still 5 spots away from nationals, and I misspelled ‘ennoble’. Stupid double N.

    posted by Tim on 5-29-2009 at 12:28 am

16. Caricature. I was in 6th grade. I thought the person giving the words was supposed to be saying “character” and I was annoyed that she couldn’t pronounce it correctly (I had never heard the word caricature before). I was glad it was over and I wasn’t advancing any further–I absolutely HATED having to study out of that little book for hours at a time.

    When I started typing this comment, I double-checked to make sure I was spelling caricature correctly, and lo and behold, I had spelled it wrong and had to correct it. Sheesh.

    posted by Michigan Mom on 5-29-2009 at 8:52 am

17. I got second place because of “banana.” I forgot where I was and ended up adding an extra -na, making it “bananana.”

    Funny thing, though, was that everybody just paused for a minute because nobody was sure how many “na”s I’d actually said. There was discussion and argument before I finally spoke up and said that yes, I had added too many letters (it was being videotaped anyways).

    posted by Sammy on 5-30-2009 at 3:22 am

18. I missed the word “alastrim” in the National Bee. That was the most stressful 2.5 minutes of my life! Then again, it was the last word I ever spelled in a bee. (100% on the quiz)

    posted by Speller Girl on 5-31-2009 at 10:30 pm

19. Woot! 10 out of 10. Glad to know I’ve still got it :D

    I misspelled “basenji” at the Scripps National Bee. Let me tell you – knowing that you’re on national TV (even in a spelling bee) is more stressful than you’d think! Especially when you can hear the commentators talking about you. Seriously, isn’t everyone insecure enough in eighth grade?! I was happy to be there, but happy when it was over.

    posted by Sarah on 10-2-2009 at 5:49 pm

20. i got 100%!!!!!

    posted by bob on 11-3-2009 at 11:55 pm

21. 100%!!!!! better captcha, standard satyr

    posted by bob on 11-3-2009 at 11:56 pm

22. Acclimatization in 5th grade county level. It was down to me and two boys. One was good, but as the other kids kept getting knocked out, the other boy kept whispering, “I can’t believe I’m still here. I’ve guessed on almost all my words so far.” That is why I was so mad that my mouth spit out “A-C-L” when my brain was telling it “A-C-C-L.” To this day, I curse that boy for his luck not running out before I got started getting nervous.

    posted by Amanda on 5-5-2010 at 1:16 pm

23. I was knocked out of the fifth round of the National Bee in ’99 with “toile”. I had paid enough attention to others’ words to figure out the “oi” sound, but left the final “e” off. Never been more nervous in my life!

    posted by EH on 6-4-2010 at 3:59 pm

24. I actually beat a couple of people who went to the National Spelling Bee in smaller spelling competitions, but in the actual thing, one judge thought I misspelled “calculator.” With a “M.” Apparently, the rules say that if a single judge has doubts, then the word is wrong. :(

    posted by Dante Alset on 6-4-2010 at 8:06 pm

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