Thursday, June 01, 2006

Ursprache – I predict that the ratings for the Scripps National Spelling Bee tonight will be huge. Meanwhile, more proof that people will bet on anything: “Online gamblers bet on spelling bee.”

Follow-up – Well, I was so very wrong about the spelling bee ratings. Maybe I should have noted that I was watching “The Office” all night.

4 comments:

jd watson said...

Since when are German words part of an English spelling bee?

Jody said...

I feel your angst JD. When I went to kindergarten, I disliked the schaudenfreude other students took from my lateness due to my daushchaund throwing up his hasenfeffer after thinking he saw a poltergeist.

Anonymous said...

I hate to break up this little coffee klatsch, but oy, if I only had a nickel for every time this flak came up about ersatz words from the hinterland invading our glitzy spelling fest! Seeing some wunderkind waltz off with the U.S. title by spelling a word that makes the rest of us feel like Neanderthals raises my temperature to 103 degrees Fahrenheit. I need an aspirin.

jd watson said...

Cute, Jody. Perhaps I should have said obscure German Words. The words you cited appear in my English dictionary, but "ursprache" doesn't, nor did I ever encounter it in 4 years of high school and college German.