[heleny]

Holy smokes, who comes up with these words??

Scripps Howard runs the spelling bee. They print a booklet with words divided into three levels of difficulty. Otherwise, I guess they use an unabridged dictionary, since they have to be able to provide the pronunciation, definition, and an example of the word. Maybe etymology, too, but I'm not sure.

[Destro]

To someone who speaks Greek and Latin they wonder what all the fuss is about-these are everyday words to them.

[plusone]

How many other languages have Bees? Russian doesn't, there is no need. That language is nearly 100% phonetic. Notice how 'phonetically' is not spelled phonetically? English was invented by accident. (Shakespeare spelled his name a dozen different ways over the course of his life.)