Even as Twitter and text-messaging erode prefixes and suffixes, and spell check replaces the desk dictionary, honor and glory are still accorded spellers. Friday morning, six young students, Island finalists in the Scripps national Spelling Bee, stood onstage at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center and demonstrated a depth of knowledge that remains the bedrock of the English language and a hallmark of scholarly achievement.
Owen Favreau (Charter School, grade 7), Adam Miller (Chilmark School, grade 5), Spencer Pogue (Edgartown School, grade 7), Nora Riemer (Oak Bluffs School, grade 4), Lily Sebastian (Tisbury School, grade 5), and Noah Glasgow (West Tisbury School, grade 6) had each won his or her school spelling bee.
The Friday-morning competition was to determine who would represent the Vineyard at the national spelling bee, to be held May 24 in Washington, D.C. In the seventh round of competition, Spencer Pogue, 13, correctly spelled “guitar” to claim victory for the second year in a row.
The Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, together with its 1993 Addenda Section, includes some 470,000 entries. The starting sheet Scripps provided contained a list of 130 words. The entire list contained 500 words, and in its later stages provided some pretty tough barriers to all but the most skilled spellers. The last five words in the list, 496 to 500, were “lazzarone, patissier, yosenabe, myrmidon,” and “bhagat” — spelled just the way it sounds.
Spelling Bee organizer Jean Holenko of the Oak Bluffs School explained the rules to an audience that included proud family members and students from each of the speller’s schools.
Judges Martha’s Vineyard Superintendent of Schools James Weiss and Martha’s Vineyard Times reporter Steve Myrick shared the stage with the students.
Pronouncer Peter Oberfest, the publisher of The Times, which has sponsored the bee and the Washington trip for the past 24 years, stepped to the lectern. Each student had 15 seconds to spell his or her word.
Adam was up first. He was asked to spell “p———” (word purposely omitted so you can test your spelling skills).
“This word is from a word that went from Latin to German,” Mr. Oberfest said as Adam listened attentively. “Noun. A glazed and salted bakery product made of a rope of dough, typically twisted into a form resembling the letter ‘B.’ Brian munched on a large ———- as he watched his favorite television program.”
Adam spelled the word carefully but incorrectly. The next five students up — “mammoth, alcove, tofu, academy, crimson” — safely made it through round one.
In round two, Lily was undone by “macaroni.”
Owen breathed a sigh or relief when he escaped from “igneous” (relating to, resulting from, or suggestive of the intrusion or extrusion of magma or the activity of volcanoes).
Owen was undone in round four by “bungalow.”
Noah fell to “layette” (a complete outfit of clothing and equipment for a newborn infant).
Nora and Spencer — “knapsack” and “nostril,” respectively — made it through round five.
In round six, Nora tripped over “gorgeous.” Spencer only had to hit the right tune with “guitar” to head to the big leagues.
Study and preparation was key. “I just quiz myself a lot,” Noah said when asked for the secret to his success.
As for that first word, if you spelled it p-r-e-t-z-e-l, you are correct.
