As the final pre-competition meeting of the Scripps National Spelling Bee91裸聊视频檚 word selection panel stretches into its seventh hour, the pronouncers no longer seem to care.
Before panelists can debate the words picked for the bee, they need to hear each word and its language of origin, part of speech, definition and exemplary sentence read aloud. Late in the meeting, lead pronouncer Jacques Bailly and his colleagues 91裸聊视频� so measured in their pacing and meticulous in their enunciation during the bee 91裸聊视频� rip through that chore as quickly as possible. No pauses. No apologies for flubs.
By the time of this gathering, two days before the bee, the word list is all but complete. Each word has been vetted by the panel and slotted into the appropriate round of the nearly century-old annual competition to identify the English language91裸聊视频檚 best speller.
For decades, the word panel91裸聊视频檚 work has been a closely guarded secret. This year, Scripps 91裸聊视频� a Cincinnati-based media company 91裸聊视频� granted The Associated Press exclusive access to the panelists and their pre-bee meeting, with the stipulation that The AP would not reveal words unless they were cut from the list.
THEY91裸聊视频橰E TOUGH ON WORDS
The 21 panelists sit around a makeshift, rectangular conference table in a windowless room tucked inside the convention center outside Washington where the bee is staged every year. They are given printouts including words Nos. 770-1,110 91裸聊视频� those used in the semifinal rounds and beyond 91裸聊视频� with instructions that those sheets of paper cannot leave the room.
Hearing the words aloud with the entire panel present 91裸聊视频� laptops open to Merriam-Webster91裸聊视频檚 Unabridged dictionary 91裸聊视频� sometimes illuminates problems. That91裸聊视频檚 what happened late in Sunday91裸聊视频檚 meeting. Kavya Shivashankar, the 2009 champion, an obstetrician/gynecologist and a recent addition to the panel, chimed in with an objection.
The word gleyde (pronounced 91裸聊视频済lide91裸聊视频�), which means a decrepit old horse and is only used in Britain, has a near-homonym 91裸聊视频� glyde 91裸聊视频� with a similar but not identical pronunciation and the same meaning. Shivashankar says the variant spelling makes the word too confusing, and the rest of the panel quickly agrees to spike gleyde altogether. It won91裸聊视频檛 be used.
91裸聊视频淣ice word, but bye-bye,91裸聊视频� pronouncer Kevin Moch says.
For the panelists, the meeting is the culmination of a yearlong process to assemble a word list that will challenge but not embarrass the 230 middle- and elementary-school-aged competitors 91裸聊视频� and preferably produce a champion within the two-hour broadcast window for Thursday night91裸聊视频檚 finals.
The panel91裸聊视频檚 work has changed over the decades. From 1961 to 1984, according to James Maguire91裸聊视频檚 book 91裸聊视频淎merican Bee,91裸聊视频� creating the list was a one-man operation overseen by Jim Wagner, a Scripps Howard editorial promotions director, and then by Harvey Elentuck, a then-MIT student who approached Wagner about helping with the list in the mid-1970s.
The panel was created in 1985. The current collaborative approach didn91裸聊视频檛 take shape until the early 91裸聊视频�90s. Bailly, the 1980 champion, joined in 1991.
91裸聊视频淗arvey 91裸聊视频� made the whole list,91裸聊视频� Bailly says. 91裸聊视频淚 never met him. I was just told, 91裸聊视频榊ou91裸聊视频檙e the new Harvey.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
IT91裸聊视频橲 NOT JUST PICKING WORDS
This year91裸聊视频檚 meeting includes five full-time bee staffers and 16 contract panelists. The positions are filled via word of mouth within the spelling community or recommendations from panelists. The group includes five former champions: Barrie Trinkle (1973), Bailly, George Thampy (2000), Sameer Mishra (2008) and Shivashankar.
Trinkle, who joined the panel in 1997, used to produce the majority of her submissions by reading periodicals like The New Yorker or The Economist.
91裸聊视频淥ur raison d91裸聊视频檈tre was to teach spellers a rich vocabulary that they could use in their daily lives. And as they got smarter and smarter, they got more in contact with each other and were studying off the same lists, it became harder to hold a bee with those same types of words,91裸聊视频� Trinkle says.
Now, more often than not she goes directly to the source 91裸聊视频� Merriam-Webster91裸聊视频檚 Unabridged. That91裸聊视频檚 easier than it used to be.
91裸聊视频淭he dictionary is on the computer and is highly searchable in all kinds of ways 91裸聊视频� which the spellers know as well. If they want to find all the words that entered the language in the 1650s, they can do that, which is sometimes what I do,91裸聊视频� Trinkle says. 91裸聊视频淭he best words kind of happen to you as you91裸聊视频檙e scrolling around through the dictionary.91裸聊视频�
Not everyone on the panel submits words. Some work to ensure that the definitions, parts of speech and other accompanying information are correct; others are tasked with ensuring that words of similar difficulty are asked at the right times in the competition; others focus on crafting the bee91裸聊视频檚 new multiple-choice vocabulary questions. Those who submit words, like Trinkle and Mishra, are given assignments throughout the year to come up with a certain number at a certain level of difficulty.
Mishra pulls his submissions from his own list, which he started when he was a 13-year-old speller. He gravitates toward 91裸聊视频渢he harder end of the spectrum.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淭hey are fun and challenging for me and they make me smile, and I know if I was a speller I would be intimidated by that word,91裸聊视频� says the 28-year-old Mishra, who just finished his MBA at Harvard. 91裸聊视频淚 have no fear about running out (of words), and I feel good about that.91裸聊视频�
HOW THE BEE HAS EVOLVED
The panel meets a few times a year, often virtually, to go over words, edit definitions and sentences, and weed out problems. The process seemed to go smoothly through the 2010s, even amid a proliferation of so-called , many catering to offspring of highly educated, first-generation Indian immigrants 91裸聊视频� a group that has come to dominate the competition.
In 2019, a confluence of factors 91裸聊视频� among them, a wild-card program that allowed multiple spellers from competitive regions to reach nationals 91裸聊视频� produced an unusually deep field of spellers. Scripps had to use the toughest words on its list just to cull to a dozen finalists. The bee ended in an , and there was no shortage of .
Scripps, however, didn91裸聊视频檛 fundamentally change the way the word panel operates. It brought in younger panelists more attuned to the ways contemporary spellers study and prepare. And it made format changes designed to identify a sole champion. The wild-card program was scrapped, and Scripps added onstage vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker.
The panel also began pulling words avoided in the past. Place names, trademarks, words with no language of origin: As long as a word isn91裸聊视频檛 archaic or obsolete, it91裸聊视频檚 fair game.
91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檝e started to understand they have to push further into the dictionary,91裸聊视频� says Shourav Dasari, a 20-year-old former speller and a co-founder with his older sister Shobha of SpellPundit, which sells study guides and hosts a popular online bee. 91裸聊视频淟ast year, we started seeing stuff like tribal names that are some of the hardest words in the dictionary.91裸聊视频�
THERE91裸聊视频橲 A METICULOUSNESS TO IT ALL
Members of the panel insist they worry little about other bees or the proliferation of study materials and private coaches. But those coaches and entrepreneurs spend a lot of time thinking about the words Scripps is likely to use 91裸聊视频� often quite successfully.
Dasari says there are roughly 100,000 words in the dictionary that are appropriate for spelling bees. He pledges that 99% of the words on Scripps91裸聊视频� list are included in SpellPundit91裸聊视频檚 materials. Anyone who learns all those words is all but guaranteed to win, Dasari says 91裸聊视频� but no one has shown they can do it.
91裸聊视频淚 just don91裸聊视频檛 know when anybody would be able to completely master the unabridged dictionary,91裸聊视频� Dasari says.
Since the bee resumed after its 2020 pandemic cancellation, the panel has been scrutinized largely for the vocabulary questions, which have added , knocking out some of the most gifted spellers even if they don91裸聊视频檛 misspell a word. Last year91裸聊视频檚 champion, Harini Logan, on a vocabulary word, 91裸聊视频減ullulation91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� only to be reinstated minutes later after arguing that her answer could be construed as correct.
91裸聊视频淭hat gave us a sense of how very, very careful we need to be in terms of crafting these questions,91裸聊视频� says Ben Zimmer, the language columnist for The Wall Street Journal and a chief contributor of words for the vocabulary rounds.
Zimmer is also sensitive to the criticism that some vocabulary questions are evaluating the spellers91裸聊视频� cultural sophistication rather than their mastery of roots and language patterns. This year91裸聊视频檚 vocabulary questions contain more clues that will guide gifted spellers to the answers, he says.
There will always be complaints about the word list, but making the competition as fair as possible is the panel91裸聊视频檚 chief goal. Missing hyphens or incorrect capitalization, ambiguities about singular and plural nouns or transitive and intransitive verbs 91裸聊视频� no question is too insignificant.
91裸聊视频淭his is really problematic,91裸聊视频� Trinkle says, pointing out a word that has a homonym with a similar definition.
Scripps editorial manager Maggie Lorenz agrees: 91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e going to bump that word entirely.91裸聊视频�
Ben Nuckols, The Associated Press
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