The Bee Blog

A stumble

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:27

Jaden Zhang, speller 159, started to say hello to Dr. Bailly, but stumbled over his words. He managed to get a hello out, and had no trouble spelling his word - pahoehoe, cooled hard lava ma...

Getting political

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:22

Collin Shea, speller 156, was dressed to the nines in a suit and a green shirt. He misspelled "onerous" and is out. Much like the subject of his sentence. "Citing an onerous workload...

Bond

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:19

Last night, while asking questions of the spellebrities, Jeff Zheng, speller 154, introduced himself as Bond. James Bond. Today, he just said hello to Dr. Bailly. Then he went on to spell tandoori ...

Back to it!

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:07

Speller 146, Calvin Alexander, Jr., kicked us off by spelling spondylitis correctly. He writes on his arm with his finger. ...

We're taking a quick break

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 09:56

Round 2 resumes shortly. So far, 18 spellers have misspelled. There are 127 spellers who will move on to Round 3 of the competition. ...

Hi, Tejus

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 09:37

Tejas Muthusamy, speller 143, is one of three spellers competing for the fourth time. And he's the first we've seen today. Tejus, a Virginia 8th grader, has tied for 8th place, 7th place and 2...

Jamaica in the house

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 09:17

Deneiro Hines, speller 122, has some throat-clearing to do before he properly spelled limacoid. He was endearingly polite, in the tradition of Jamaican spellers, saying "Thank you, sir" every ...

Three in a row

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 09:08

We've had three misspellings in a row - and that means three fewer spellers. Joseph Benson, speller 90, misspelled piccata. Andrew Masciarelli, speller 91, misspelled pneumatocele. ...

Two thumbs up

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:48

Will Lourcey, speller 82, is the first speller to get close to the two-minute time limit. He correctly spelled Ruritanian, of, relating to or having the characteristics of an imaginary place o...

Some exchanges

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:39

Some spellers who have been here before have a bit of a rapport with Dr. Bailly. "Good morning, Dr. Bailly. Good to see you again," Michael Goss, speller 50 said, before spelling reliquiae cor...

Give me an R

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:33

Daniel Larsen, speller 49, spelled rudiments as if he was cheering the word, each letter pronounced loudly and separately. ...

Erewho?

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:30

Jamari Reeves, speller 40, misspelled Erewhonian, which means of or suggestive of the utopia described in the book Erewhon whose people dealt with disease as a crime and destroyed machinery ...

Two more down

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:22

Ishaan Akula, speller 34, misspelled kakapo, a New Zealand parrot with soft green and brown barred plumage that has well-developed wings but little power of flight, lives in burrows in the g...

The mic!

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:14

Sakiusa Meador, speller 21, pulled the microphone down to be better heard by the judges. But there's a new mic this year. "You don't have to move it at all," Dr. Bailly told hi...

Beyonce makes the Bee

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:11

As in, "After learning that Beyoncé did not win the Grammy for best album this year, Kayla needed an extended decumbiture." It means: the time of taking to one’s bed because of sicknes...

Our first misspellings

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:06

William "Liam" Myers, speller 6, has our first misspelling with "malfeasance." He spelled it with a P-H instead of an F. And David Firestone, speller 8, misspelled wobbulator - he ...

First funny sentence

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 08:03

We have our first funny sentence, for the word insignia. Shaheer Imam, speller 5, heard it from Dr. Bailly: "Colleen considered the small stain her baby's spit-up left on her lapel the in...

Our first speller

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 07:59

And we're off! Naomi Zarin, speller 1, is up first. She correctly spelled tarsier, and we've got one. ...

We'll begin live spelling soon

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 07:54

Follow along here on the Bee Blog, and across all our social media channels - Scripps National Spelling Bee on Facebook and Instagram and @ScrippsBee on Twitter and Snapchat. You can also foll...

Meet 2016 co-champion Nihar Janga

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 07:39

Tomorrow, we will crown another champion (or co-champions) of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The on-stage spelling starts in minutes. But before the spellers take the stage, let's chat with Nih...