The Bee Blog

Air typing

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 13:53

Lots of spellers write on the back of their hands with their fingers or flip up their placard to trace the letters of their spelling words. Erin Howard, speller 36, does something a little differen...

Right, right

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 13:46

Shantanu Edgaonkar, speller 28, is here from Japan. He took it to the wire, but correctly spelled contrariwise. It means oppositely or on the other hand. Tanay Nandan, s...

Kerfuffle, carfuffle, curfuffle

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 13:42

Vasundara Govindarajan, speller 20, spelled a word that most of us know as kerfuffle - a stir, disturbance, fuss. Vasundra spelled it curfuffle, and that's right, too. There's also a third variant:...

One Direction couldn't save us

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 13:30

"Nice to see you again, Dr, Bailly," said Simone Kaplan, speller 13. She misspelled juridical, of or relating to the administration of justice or the office of a judge or acting or used ...

We're back at it

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 13:12

Naomi Zarin, speller 1, spelled triceratops correctly, and we've started Round 3. In Round 2, spellers had a 400-word word list to study. Now, they just have the dictionary. It'...

Break time

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 12:19

Hi, all! We're taking a quick lunch break. After Round 2, 259 spellers remain in the competition. There were 32 who misspelled, and were out. We come back in about an hour. See you soon! ...

Our tiniest speller

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 12:14

Edith Fuller, 6, is the youngest speller in the Bee. Wearing a black bow in her hair, she spelled second-to-last in Round 2 on Tuesday. Her word, nyctinasty, means movement of a flat plant part (as...

Alternate spelling

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:49

Dale Winand, speller 253, chose an alternate spelling of "imbroglio" - "embroglio." The word means an intricate or complicated situation. ...

Dictionary time

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:42

"Is this having to do with Noah Webster and his dictionary?" asked Naomi Castellanos, speller 251. The word was Websterian - so yes. It's of, relating to or characteristic of the lexicogr...

A tree

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:38

Jashun Paluru, speller 245, finished 10th last year. The Indiana seventh grader just spelled halapepe correctly. It's a tree of the Pacific islands having flowers resembling lilies and ...

Blathering blatherskite!

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:25

Will Rooke, speller 241, was glad to get blatherskite correct - it's a blustering, talkative and often incompetent person. "Boom!" he said, as he turned. ...

Food words

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:15

The Bee often has a lot of words that spellers might have come across over the dinner table. Earlier in the day, we had roux. Then, Reggiano. David De Coursy, speller 201, seemed confused ...

GIF?

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:12

Dr. Bailly sidestepped the question of how to pronounce GIF - with a hard or a soft G - by merely reading the letters, pronouncing it G-I-F in the following sentence: "Mrs. Ramirez explained that K...

Some returning spellers

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:07

Speller 205, Siyona Mishra, finished 9th last year. Today, she spelled titian correctly. Speller 207 Tara Singh, the last of our spellers in her fourth Bee, spelled miniver correct...

Hello, Dr. Bailly

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 11:01

Many of the spellers like to greet Dr. Bailly when they go up to the microphone - many of them in languages other than English. He's gotten a hello in French and a good morning in native Hawaiian.&...

Harry Potter reference

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:56

Collectively, J.K. Rowling is the spellers' favorite author. So it stands to reason that there would be a Harry Potter reference before too long. It came on the word omodynia, which is a ...

Welcome, Rutvik

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:47

Rutvik Gandhasri, speller 189, finished sixth in last year's Bee. He spelled dactylology correctly in the second round. ...

Disney reference

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:44

Yash Hande, speller 181, got this sentence for Polynesian: "Carla knew so much about Polynesian culture that her teacher assumed she had been to the area, but no, she had just seen '...

How many toes does your cat have?

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:40

"I once had a cat with polydactyly," Dr. Bailly commented. It's the condition of having more than the normal number of toes or fingers. "Cool," said Folau Holi, speller 177. Typing the word...

Another 4-timer

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:35

Harshita Shet, speller 173, is another 4-time competitor. The New York seventh grader made quick work of her word, distinguo. ...