There's a pretty well-known former champion from Colorado, pronouncer Dr. Bailly. So speller 30, Sylvie Lamontagne, thought it was only reasonable that he should cut her a break. An easy word for her fellow Coloradan, right?
"Can I have my aforementioned easy word?" she asked.
"OK. I don't know about that. We'll see," he said.
Sylvie, who tied for ninth place last year, spelled "Ayurveda" correctly and is still in it.
