Even adults can use a good spelling bee now and then. It’s a good way to learn words like ostreiform, meaning “having the shape of an oyster,” and langlauf, a “cross-country ski run.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Adult Spelling...
Ombrology is a fancy word for the study of toad-stranglers. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Ombrology” Grant, I have another spelling word for you. Yes, please. Umbrology. Umbrology sounds like his umbrella. At the beginning...
The Scripps National Spelling Bee, long beloved for its youngsters stammering out words like appoggiatura, is about to change this year, when they’re also forced to define words like appoggiatura. Officials added two rounds of computerized...
Grant and Martha recently served as expert spellers at the San Diego Council on Literacy’s annual adult spelling bee, but don’t let the age group or philanthropic mission fool you-spelling bees are always i-n-t-e-n-s-e. The word Rorschach shall...
Why do spelling bees in the United States use so many bizarre, obsolete, ginormous, and Brobdingnagian words? Webster’s New International Dictionary, 3rd Edition, published in 1961, is still the standard for spelling bees, and thus contains some...
Why do spelling bees include such bizarre, obsolete words as cymotrichous? Why is New York called the Big Apple? Also, the stinky folk medicine tradition called an asifidity bag, the surprising number of common English phrases that come directly...
