N.C. spellers in the house

Thu, May 29, 2008 - 10:39 AM

Thu, May 29, 2008 - 11:47 AM

A slew of kids from North Carolina just hit the stage. Some interesting things to note with this crew.

Matthew Marley of Elon, in his second bee appearance, got a tough word – slumgullion. (That’s a meat stew, by the way.)

The eighth grader pondered it for a while, but just barely missed by spelling it “slomgullion.”



Erin Parker of Dunn was given the perceptible. The eighth grader got it, but the judges delayed a bit in saying she had it correct. I’m not sure why, but the look of suspense on her face was priceless.




Destiny Franklin of Spring Lake must have thought her word – mahogany – was pretty easy. The eighth grader was back in her seat before I even had time to take a picture.

Kate Dubis of Hillsborough also sailed through her word – varicose.



Mayee Zhu of Winterville took her time with “neoprene,” asking for the etymology and the pronunciation. But the seventh grader who’s here for her second time got it.



Katharine Bailey of Wilson got a toughie – kibbutz. She spelled the word incorrectly - “kebutse.” You could tell from the look on her face that she was guessing a bit.



And Baron Fenwick of Boone also took his time with his word – intercessory. He asked for the origin and for the word in a sentence.

He even outlined it on the back of the placard that each speller wears around their neck.

But he got it, slowly spelling it.



Remember, if a speller gets a word wrong this round it does not mean they are automatically disqualified.

-- Amy Dominello