In the ballroom (and maybe on TV?) we just watched an ESPN promo where people on the streets of Washington, D.C. talked about their own spelling bee misses.
One person interviewed said he misspelled "octopus" when he thought the word was "octopush."
So imagine the amusement in the room when Saketh Sundar, Speller 251 and a Maryland seventh grader received this sentence:
"Lucius visited the market on nundinal days to buy fresh octopush."
The word, "nundinal," means of or relating to a market day held every ninth day in ancient Rome.
Saketh got it right. It's his third appearance at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. In 2016, he tied for 41st and last year he tied for 12th place.
