Thursday, June 3, 2010

THE COMPUTERIZED ROUND: These are the twenty-five words which the competitors had to spell in yesterday's preliminary round. By my count, nineteen that any competent speller should be able to handle, and six at the end to separate the potential winners from the rest. I have no idea in what order they were given to the competitors (in addition to the twenty-five other non-scored words):
  • buh-juh-TERR-ee: why there's only one Canadian here.
  • AM-uh-tyoor, AM-uh-tuhr, AM-uh-chur: someone who's not serious about winning.
  • REH-juh-mehn: what you need to be serious about winning.
  • suh-BATT-uh-kuhl: what you may want from school for the final weeks of training, except for Rule 1, Clause 8.
  • TOO-tuh-lihj, TYOO-tuh-lehj: having Kavya as a big sister at the Bee.
  • SUHR-uh-guht: sending your big sister Kavya to spell a word for you at the Bee.
  • AHB-stuh-kuhl: not having Kavya as your big sister at the Bee.
  • uhn-uh-KWIV-uh-KULL: what your decisions at the Bee have to be.
  • TA-siht: the understanding that you have with your family that if the Bee doesn't work out, you're seeing To Fly! at the Air and Space IMAX tomorrow.
  • uh-GAYP: what your mouth will be when you see To Fly! at the Air and Space IMAX tomorrow.
  • ihn-GRAY-shee-ait: what you can try to do with Dr. Jacques Bailly, not that it will work.
  • ann-uhk-DOTE-uhl: "So, Dr. Jacques, I head this story about you that one time ..."
  • KALL-uhs: "I did not like your story. Go away."
  • PEH-nuhns: What else should I be? All apologies.
  • REH-fyoos: that wretched stuff teeming at your shores.
  • TEH-tuh-nuhs: the shot you'll need if you step into a sharp or jagged piece of REH-fyoos.
  • reh-MITT-uhns: "Mom, dad, I'm kinda in a jam here ..."
  • LIM-uh-rihk: A five line poem regarding male natives of a Massachusetts island.
  • puh-suh-LAN-uh-muhs: scaredy-cat.

  • TAHK-suhn: an alarm bell
  • suh-NOFF-uh-luhst: dog lover.
  • eye-so-KRIME, eye-so-KRIHM: a line connecting places which are as cold as each other.
  • mih-suh-NEE-iz-uhm: a hatred or intolerance of something new or changed
  • buhl-VEHR-suh-mahn: overturning, reversal.
  • uh-PAHL-yuhn, uh-PAHL-ee-uhn: the devil, Kevin!
When you're ready to look, the answers are here.

3 comments:

  1. isaac_spaceman6:16 PM

    Geez, why not just have a six-word written test worth 25 points?  (So that I could get a zero.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. J. Bowman6:37 PM

    "I once knew a man from Nantucket."
    "And?"
    "Let's just say the stories about him were greatly exaggerated."

    ReplyDelete
  3. SarahC3:15 PM

    25/25 here!

    ReplyDelete