Posted on 05/31/2019 11:28:50 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Can you spell history? The 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee had an epic ending with eight co-champions.
The spelling bee was finally over after it went 20 rounds, which included a run of 47 correct words.
Thursday night's unprecedented decision was made after round 17, when it was announced that while there were plenty of words left in the dictionary, there were only enough challenging words for three final rounds.
The eight co-champions are: Rishik Gandhasri; Erin Howard; Saketh Sundar; Shruthika Padhy; Sohum Sukhatankar; Abhijay Kodali; Christopher Serrao; and Rohan Raja.
"We have plenty of words left on our list but will soon run out of words that would challenge you," said the Bee's official pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly, calling those remaining in the 17th round "the most phenomenal assemblage of super-spellers" in the competition's history. The crowd agreed with a standing ovation.
"We're throwing the dictionary at you and so far, you are showing the dictionary who is boss."
And, sure enough, all of the competitors from round 17 made it to the end.
Thursday night's finals went on more than an hour and half past the scheduled time with words like omphalopsychite, Geeldikkop and auftaktigkeit.
Spellcheck may not recognize these words, but the champions sure did.
Five rounds and 47 words in a row were spelled perfectly. Each of the eight champions will receive a $50,000 prize.
Even as the night grew late and the tension ran high, many competitors would still offer high fives or a clasp of hands as another student prepared for or came back from successfully spelling their word. By the end, it was full hugs of support for one another.
The kids got tired, some misheard words at times, but their determination never broke as they carefully worked through each spelling.
Rohan bemoaned to Bailly how funny he sounded pronouncing two of his words in a row with guttural noises, but that didn't rock his performance.
And, once it got late, Rishik spoke for everyone in the audience by tiredly asking what the time was when he went to spell his word. It was 11:18 p.m. Almost an hour past the scheduled end time.
Erin was exuberant for much of the competition but was brought to near tears of happiness when she heard the word that, if spelled correctly, would make her one of the champions: erysipelas. She knew she had it before she even began spelling.
This year's competition started on Sunday with 562 spellers -- all of whom are 15 or younger but have not passed eighth grade -- who made it to the national stage. Contestants came from all 50 states, as well as several territories and other countries including the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea.
Most of the competitors attend public schools.
And the words they spelled are not on a regular middle school spelling test. This feat takes hours of repetition, coaching from a teacher or loved one, and study of etymology, or the origin of words.
Fine. You win! Ask the Moderators to remove this story because you’re offended that I posted it.
I guess what you say goes around here, LOL!
Rote memorization is not a sign of intelligence.
It’s a sign they have no childhood...
It reminds me of a Japanese kid I knew.
ROFL!!!!
Irrational much?
By itself, no … but like any learning, there's more to this spelling bee business than just memorizing basic facts and first principles.
It’s a sign they have no childhood...
That would put them in the same category as, for example, champion figure skaters and gymnasts.
What you missed here is that the kids destroyed the word list and they literally ran out of words to ask them. This was a ‘we have no choice ‘ situation.
On a personal note, I used to work with Erin’s dad...great guy, great family. Huntsville, AL is proud!
Huntsville, AL is full of literal rocket scientists.
;'}
Seriously. I’m not mad. I see you’ve moved on to harass others. It was just my turn, today. :)
Minus a useful talent and exercise.
What does a professional speller earn?
As such? Nothing. Is there even such thing as a professional speller?
What does someone who can write and spell correctly earn? In many professions, more than someone who lacks these skills.
I notice they cut it off at 8th grade or age 15. That's wise. There's much more to a well rounded education than spelling.
I don't believe those are real words.
From merriam-webster dot com:
omphalopsychite: one who stares fixedly at his navel to induce a mystical trance —often used of the hesychasts
Geeldikkop; a serious photodynamic disease of southern African sheep due to sensitization to light following the ingestion of some plants and characterized by intense jaundice and a severe facial edema
auftaktigkeit: a principle in music: all musical phrases begin on an upbeat
“Genetically brilliant.”
I do not know where you learned this, “Genetically brilliant” but I beg to disagree:
I have heard the same thing about Chinese people. That is also untrue.
The fact of the matter is that both East Indians AND Chinese people are taught, from birth, to work hard above all else. In other words, their work ethic sets them apart from others and NOT because they are intellectually superior to other races, creeds, ethnicities, etc.
They should implement a combat phase to resolve ties like this.
correctophobic-the condition of not admitting machines will do all the spelling for us in the future,.
Fear of making spelling errors.
Avoiding talking to kids from south central Asia.
Obsessed with correcting the spelling of others in unimportant settings like anonymous posts online;
Constantly turning off auto-spell on apps.
I was being a smart ass about the pro speller. To have a good vocabulary and proper grammar will certainly help most people. I certainly agree about having a well rounded education. It’s been a long work week, and I probably came off too harsh. Mea culpa.
Congrats to all 8 of them. :D
Maybe they can change the format to keep going until someone misses and compile enough words to cover this situation. But until then, this can happen.
Congratulations to all of the winners.
At least they didn’t go to penalty kicks.
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