Bill Simmons, the columnist otherwise known as ‘The Sports Guy’, wrote a hilarious article for ESPN’s Page 2 column, about the National Spelling Bee.  He covered it as if it were a sports event… I laughed all the way through!

Great sports any way you spell it

;D

-Tim

Somehow, while reading it, my mind replaced Dr. Cameron with Dr. Language.  :)

...including the cheesy beard? You were right Tim, very funny. I don’t know how good a sample of the USA’s population are the contestants in the Spelling Bee, but they sound like a very multicultural group.

>:( What an incredibly useless skill. If we’re going to have crazed parents pushing their kids to such an extent, why not at least have it be for something that benefits society in some manner?

Nice article, though. ;D

~Silver
Who likes academic competitions - when they’re not just plain ridiculous.

So why is it called a spelling bee?

Personally, I’ve always found "bee" to be one of the easier words to spell.

Coemgenus

bee - O.E. beo, from P.Gmc. *bion (cf. O.H.G. bia, M.Du. bie), possibly from PIE base *bhi- "quiver." Used metaphorically for "busy worker" since 1535. Sense of "meeting of neighbors to unite their labor for the benefit of one of their number," 1769, Amer.Eng., is from comparison to the social activity of the insect; this was extended to other senses (e.g. spelling bee, first attested 1809). Beehive is first attested c.1325; as a kind of hairstyle, 1960.

-Tim
from Etymonline.com

[quote author=KatyBr link=board=spell;num=1070570314;start=0#6 date=02/04/04 at 12:52:49]A Bee was a gathering to a particular purpose, however, often romantic liasons, certainly nothing like today’s rampant immorality.

Many thanks for that background, Katy.

Ah, yesterday’s rampant immorality… How well it comes to mind! Today’s youth don’t know they are born..

Coemgenus

Know what you mean, Katy.

My theory is that the famous "swinging sixties" didn’t really begin to swing until about 1967-8 (even if some did get their kicks in year 66).

Could be that’s just my "provincial" experience, however.

Coemgenus

Thank you for the explanation of bee, Katy.

But are you sure that a spelling bee is not an incantation contest or a paroxysmal diaphorencyrtine? ;D

Flam

incantation?  just whom are they trying to decant?  OK call forth (j/K)
and sudden diaphorencyrtine?  

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I suppose they were some Bee words?  As you can see from my posts, Neither I nor my silly fingers (which have become dyslexic over the years) spell worth a hill o’ beans.

Katy

[quote author=KatyBr55 link=board=spell;num=1070570314;start=0#13 date=09/24/04 at 12:47:46]...spell worth a hill o’ beans.

Don’t you mean hill o’ bees...?  (Couldn’t resist! )

-Tim

The proper adjective in academe jargon for bees is either apidae or apitine from Latin apis, -is (bee).  Diaphorencyrtus is a word I came across as I was hunting for more fancy words.  I made up Diaphorencyrtine therefrom.

Flam