Posted on 01/18/2012 4:28:36 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Lauderhill Spelling Bee has come under controversy after an incident that brought back memories of Dan Quayle’s problem spelling the word potato.
Robert McKenzie said that his daughter was dismissed from the Lauderhill MLK championship spelling bee earlier this week. The controversy centered on the word vacation.
Video posted to YouTube showed McKenzie’s eight-year-old daughter, McKhalia being asked to spell the word vacation.
McKenzie posted the video to YouTube that showed his nine-year-old daughter being asked to spell the word.
McKhaila responded by correctly spelling the word, but she was immediately told it was incorrect in the video.
“I actually thought I got it wrong cause I couldn’t really remember what I said,” recalled McKhaila. “But then, when I went in the room and my dad came in and said I got the word right I started crying, bursting out tears”
McKenzie, who is a teacher at Castle Hill Elementary, immediately brought his video to the judges to protest.
“I’m stunned because I’m thinking to myself, if I can spell it, she can spell it,” he said. “She’s a better speller than me. So I immediately grabbed the camera from my wife. I go outside, look at the tape, I immediately go to the officials. I tell them look my daughter spelled it right. I played the tape for them and they agreed it is correct. But the judges don’t want to listen to it, don’t want to listen to me. They’re shooing me away.”
He wants the mayor to apologize. The mayor declined to comment; but city officials did respond saying they don’t want to make a hasty decision.
They say it will take several days and several people to review the tape.
“I know how hard she worked for this opportunity and I would have rather her lose fairly than lose like this,” said Robert McKenzie.
On a related note, I made it into the final three of my eighth grade spelling bee contest. (The winner would move on to the city finals, then state finals etc.). I was given the word “propeller” and for the life of me I couldn’t remember if the final two letters were ER or OR. I went with OR and was told it was incorrect. Not a big deal, but the girl right after me then got the word “bacon”! BACON?!? Are you kidding me? She spelled it correctly and eventually won the bee.
I’m 46 now and as you can tell, it doesn’t bother me a bit!
(psst...let’s see if the Whole Language crowd shows up now)
OK- I’ll be the one and only:
...he said. “She’s a better speller than me.”
he should have said: “She’s a better speller than I.”
...and immediately they were better spellers than me,...
as you should have said: ...and immediately they were better spellers than I,...
(psst...let’s see if the Whole Language crowd shows up now)
OK- I’ll be the one and only:
...he said. “She’s a better speller than me.”
he should have said: “She’s a better speller than I.”
...and immediately they were better spellers than me,...
as you should have said: ...and immediately they were better spellers than I,...
Run the MP4 file through a sound analyzer and you can even see the break for the letter E.
Ha! I do the same thing with my students. They are always amazed at that. :)
It sounds like she is saying:
V A C E A T R O N
Come on - I listened to this a lot. I still hear it exactly as I show it? Anyone else?
... and if you play it backwards, does it say "Paul is dead, Paul is dead"?
Home field advantage.
Will be interesting if the Patsies get to play the Giants again.
A lesson about government that it will take at least several days to determine if word spelled correctly.
Is your cousin still gloating?
OK nevermind about the R..... If you turn the volume up a little louder it is an I, but it sounds so close to an R. Still I say no since she definitely pronounced the E after C.
and you would have been wrong.
Ever been to a spelling bee?
I’ve never heard someone do what your claiming to hear.
If she commonly blended letters - than maybe - but I doubt it.
You got that right!
But it could also have been the way she spoke.......
“I” is a nominative pronoun and is used as a subject of a sentence or clause, while “me” is an objective pronoun and used as an object.
I was floored by that call (lack of reversal), but haven’t had the time to look for the fallout. What’s the word? Are the refs getting skewered? I hope so, but at least it didn’t affect the outcome of the game.
nope
“I say it’s very useful.”
Yes, I guess it isn’t completely useless. Maybe I felt like the amount of time I (was forced to) study for those things could have been better spent getting an athletic scholarship or something. At least my kids are impressed with the gold watch!
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