Teen spelling whiz has the last word
I thought I was good at spelling.
But a week of unearthing beguiling and unexploited words was woefully inadequate preparation for a challenge against one of New Zealand’s best high-school spelling-bee contestants.
Who would win? Me, a highly trained professional who finesses words for a living? Or a year 10 student and 2017 New Zealand Spelling Bee runner-up and hopeful future journalist George Turner? This week I became increasingly aware of how much I rely on the spellcheck’s squiggly red line.
Pusillanimous was the word that won last year’s national spelling bee for Year 10 St Margaret’s College student Lucy Jessep, who edged out George after an hour-long battle. The word means ‘‘showing a lack of courage or determination’’. Can I see that in a sentence? How about: ‘‘Matt Brown was too pusillanimous to believe he could beat a high-school boy in a spelling competition’’.
A 14-year-old Marlborough Boys’ College student, George loves words and studies year 12 English. He’s made it to the spelling bee final for the second year running.
He was kind enough to give me a few tips before our friendly competition.
Ask for the language of origin – French influence will differ from Norse. Get the word put in a sentence, give it context. The definition will often offer clues.
Reading is a pleasure of mine, but sometimes it’s hard to get my head around the sheer number of words in the English language.
‘‘Tintinnabulation’’ is the sound of a bell ringing. It’s difficult to spell a word that you didn’t even know existed.
At the weigh-in, when Turner arrived at the Sunday Star-Times offices, I noticed his dictionary was bigger.
I got off to a good start: ‘‘Pirouette’’. Easy.
George’s turn: ‘‘Phenomenon’’. He nailed it . . . bugger.
This is where it got weird – my next word was ‘‘flibbertigibbet’’. OK. I was close, but no cigar.
George’s turn: Magnanimous. He nailed it . . . bugger.
My final word, the reputation of journalists everywhere on the line, ‘‘boustrophedon’’. Hey, it looks easy when it’s in black and white.
At this point it was a mere formality for the spelling whiz to whitewash me.
George’s final word: ‘‘Abecedary’’. It was too much for the young brain-box and preserved a modicum of my selfrespect.
Final score: 2-1 to the New Zealand education system.
The 2018 New Zealand Spelling Bee final takes place in Wellington on November 2 and 3.