I went to the Spelling Bee (at the Japan Times office in Tamachi) to sit in for To The Moon and Back Catering, my best friends’ company and one of the sponsors of the event. It was great fun, and I wrote the following stream-of-consciousness piece in real time. If you’ve ever attended a spelling bee, you can imagine the excitement, and if you have participated in one, maybe this will remind you of the delicious task of being a wordmaster!
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Here I am at the 1st. Official Japan Times Spelling Bee – it’s the first time that the official American English language spelling contest is being held in Japan. While there is definitely a sense of tension, it also feels quite homey and friendly and fun. If they had wifi, I’d be blogging in real time: hope they remedy the problem next year. I amused myself by commenting on spellers’ adorableness, and spelling the words myself as they were called. So they’re listed below, along with comments by the spellers and the organizers, to give you a little bit of the flavor of the event:
- insidious.
- eclectic.
- azure.
- metaphor.
- parapet.
- tarragon.
- ghoul.
(the crowd giggles mildly at the horror words – there have been a few)
Language of origin please.
- bellicose.
- impetuous.
What is the definition?
May I have the origin, please?
(lots of different accents and approaches. I can hear some kids spelling it out in their heads. And some have clearly met these words before, and so they answer loudly, with their child-sized confidence.)
- epiphany.
(some kids must raise the mic higher, some must lower it to a level that we can’t see over the audience – too cute!)
- amenable.
- odyssey.
Number XX
If I do not call your number, please stay seated.
- didactic.
- finesse.
(some seem almost sullen, but I think, rather, that they are concentrating, overcoming nervousness, remembering the rules, and their reading.)
- inane.
- periphery.
(English can be a tough language. I remain so grateful to have learned it without effort, and to love it as much as I do.)
- salve.
- salmonella.
- jeremiad.
- synchronous.
- etymology please?
- verboten.
- precipice.
Sample sentence please?
- gingham.
- susceptible.
- prerogative (I thought it was pronounced ‘per’, but I knew the right spelling.)
- adagio.
- vernacular.
- perennial.
- camphor.
- azimuth.
May I have an alternate pronunciation please?
We’re now going on to Round Number 5
- precocious.
- ephemeral.
- pasteurized.
- heifer.
- camouflage.
- rapport.
- pneumatic.
- anomaly.
- metamorphosis.
- hollandaise.
that concludes Round#5.
- alkali.
- zinnia.
- mnemonic.
- algorithm.
- gauche.
- hierarchy.
- conquistador.
- tertiary.
- recalcitrant.
- serendipity.
- mercerize.
- escargot.
- indigenous.
- misogynist.
- saboteur.
- hyperbole.
- commensurate.
- efficacy.
- anachronism.
- punctilio.
- recidivist.
- pizzicato.
- qutari (I got this one wrong)
- sinecure.
- sarsaparilla.
- euphemism.
- exacerbate.
- croesus.
and so on. 11 rounds in all.
The winner: Ms. Sonia Ann Schlesinger, 13, from Nishimachi International School. She’ll go on to represent Japan at the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC this June.
Go Sonia!
