Magorn: exick: Isn't the definition one of the questions the contestants are allowed to ask about the word?

// didn't read TFA

It is and still will be but in the middle rounds there is going to be a vocab test that will determine the finalists.  At that point I might started to be inpressed by spelling Bee champions.  Right now it's nothing more than an exercise in rote memorization, because English ahs so few useful spelling rules, and the knowledge it gives you has been  utterly useles since the automatic Spell-checker was invented

And knowing definitions isn't?

Really though, is there any other language that has "spelling bees"? Or is it just English that is so messed up?

Sports?

The only thing worse than crazy sports parents are crazy spelling bee parents. I used to study a fair amount and memorized a lot and won some local spelling bees, but it was nowhere near the level required to be competitive in state or national bees. All for a chance at one scholarship?

/oh yeah and Scripps is exploiting these kids, they should all get paid. Oh, national TV on ESPN and we can't give the participants anything
//better to be a has-been athlete than to be someone who knows how to spell everything and gets annoyed every time someone else misspells something for the rest of your life

Dear Subby,

Please define "fo".

Oh,

It's called a spelling bee, not a definition bee. If they want definitions then start up definition bee.

AUAIOMRN: Really though, is there any other language that has "spelling bees"? Or is it just English that is so messed up?

The spelling bee works BECAUSE English is so messed up. You could never have a French spelling bee because you'd just run out of words. Some of them do have bees, though. French has a grammar test, the Dictee des Ameriques. Japan has the Kanji Aptitude Test, for which there are 12 different levels (though everything from 12 to 3 is covered by high school; there's also a pre-2, 2, pre-1 and 1. Most people don't bother past 2, so level 1 is the 100-mph fastball stuff.) Chinese and Turkish have gone to pan-cultural competitions.

Dutch and Spanish have given spelling bees a crack, though.

Having gone through the handbook, I'd say most people can't define a good majority of the words.  They'll have to memorize definitions and spelling.  And since it's all about memorization, here's a better idea:  PhD Bee.  Get these kids to memorize and recite words and definitions from med school materials.  Eventually it can become practical application of medical knowledge bee,  In about 20 more years it can evolve into the Colonoscopy Relays.

/Is it incorrect to imply that this is really just the effect of not enough white folks winning?

I wonder how precise they''ll require definitions to be. Based on the root words, and the construction of a word, you can get a general idea of what it means and the part of speech, but coming up with a specific and exact definition without memorizing it is pretty dang impossible.

4NTLRZ: Dear Subby,

Please define "fo".

Oh,

[tromoticons.files.wordpress.com image 440x274]

I was waiting for the Ebonics punchline...

exick: Isn't the definition one of the questions the contestants are allowed to ask about the word?

// didn't read TFA

Came here to say this.

Also, you may notice that a nontrivial number of high-level Scrabble players don't speak a word of English.

This is bullshiat.
Some poor loser started this shiat
"He probably doesn't even know that word! I bet he just guessed!!!" "Whaaaa!"

Nana's Vibrator: Is it incorrect to imply that this is really just the effect of not enough white folks winning?

wasn't there a white girl that won not too long ago?  she would breath into her hands in between every single letter.

Supes: I wonder how precise they''ll require definitions to be. Based on the root words, and the construction of a word, you can get a general idea of what it means and the part of speech, but coming up with a specific and exact definition without memorizing it is pretty dang impossible.

From what I've read, it's a multiple-choice thing they'll be doing.

Inconsolable

Magorn: exick: Isn't the definition one of the questions the contestants are allowed to ask about the word?

// didn't read TFA

It is and still will be but in the middle rounds there is going to be a vocab test that will determine the finalists.  At that point I might started to be inpressed by spelling Bee champions.  Right now it's nothing more than an exercise in rote memorization, because English ahs so few useful spelling rules, and the knowledge it gives you has been  utterly useles since the automatic Spell-checker was invented

all of the english spelling rules are useful. there's just a lot more of them since english is no less than three languages held together with duct tape.

learn all of those languages and basic rules on the vowel shift and other mutations, historical representations of certain sounds, and all of a sudden, the rules make perfect sense.

/ no one on earth has ever reached that level of competence in english.  and, were such a person to exist, we would all judge him for being a foreigner and not knowing english.
// like the old soviet joke.  police are looking for a spy, they think this guy is a spy, so they question him.  his russian and accent are perfect.  they ask him when some complicated thing happened.  he correctly declines all the nouns and matches the case of the year.  they arrest him.  no russian could even have said that sentence correctly.

Farkenhostile: It's called a spelling bee, not a definition bee. If they want definitions then start up definition bee.

THIS. Apparently, the contestants only have 6 weeks to learn the definitions. It's dumb. They learned how to spell the words, don't change the rules.

In the spirit of these new rules, the NFL should require Super Bowl participants to write a 2,000 word essay covering the history of a play (for example: "A Freudian Interpretation of the Statue of Libery Play" by Elvis Dumervile).

/Like with citations (APA format please) and everything.  Players will read their essays on live TV during the SB bye week.

AliceBToklasLives: In the spirit of these new rules, the NFL should require Super Bowl participants to write a 2,000 word essay covering the history of a play (for example: "A Freudian Interpretation of the Statue of Libery Play" by Elvis Dumervile).

/Like with citations (APA format please) and everything.  Players will read their essays on live TV during the SB bye week.

While I'd probably tune in, I much prefer that we make '80s-esque team music videos mandatory. Originally, I wanted all teams to have to do it once per decade. Now I think it's great to make Super Bowl contenders do it. That's what they have to use the extra week before Super Bowl week for - writing, rehearsing, shooting, and editing their team music video.

The great part is that it's embarrassing to be involved in one, but it's even more embarrassing to never appear in one.

AUAIOMRN: Magorn: exick: Isn't the definition one of the questions the contestants are allowed to ask about the word?

// didn't read TFA

It is and still will be but in the middle rounds there is going to be a vocab test that will determine the finalists.  At that point I might started to be inpressed by spelling Bee champions.  Right now it's nothing more than an exercise in rote memorization, because English ahs so few useful spelling rules, and the knowledge it gives you has been  utterly useles since the automatic Spell-checker was invented

And knowing definitions isn't?

Really though, is there any other language that has "spelling bees"? Or is it just English that is so messed up?

Don't have them in the UK, so it's just American English that's so messed up.

ukexpat: Don't have them in the UK, so it's just American English that's so messed up.

It's not like the English can spell properly anyway.

/let's throw unnecessary u's everywhere!

Actually, that would be a fun way to eliminate people if they didn't probably have to put out the word lists prior to the competition - weed out all the people from the other former British colonies by if they add a "u" to color and neighbor and other such words.

monkwich: Nana's Vibrator: Is it incorrect to imply that this is really just the effect of not enough white folks winning?

wasn't there a white girl that won not too long ago?  she would breath into her hands in between every single letter.

EUONYM!!

/Hates my brain sometimes