Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Thursday, May 31, 2007
I'm such a geek
I'm watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee and trying to beat 12 year olds by typing in my best guess as to the spelling of the word into an online dictionary on my laptop without looking to see if I'm right.
So far, so good, with 6 kids left.
I'll let you know when I lose (and I will). I almost blew it on "Cilice".
The girl that lost on that word was on the right track. She asked if it was derived from the Latin "Cilia" which represents hair, or flagella on protozoa. Sadly, it is actually derived from a geographical location, not biology.
9:45 - Five left. I am SO glad I've had even a little bit of French, an exposure to German, and a lot of Russian. A heavy background in science and medicine doesn't hurt either. But then again, I'm in my forties - these are little kids.
9:56 - I'm OUT. First word of the third round "zoilus" - Greek origin, "one given to unjust findings or quibbling" (a carping critic). Ironically, Zoilus was a Greek grammarian.
10:00: CRAP - they give the previous kid a word like "zoilus" and the next word is "papparadelle"????? WTF? How easy is that? I forgot to mention a minor in foodie.
10:13: - CRAP++ The next word is "yosenabe" - another food term I know!!
10:15: Holy Double CRAP - the winning word is "serrefine" - a small forceps for clamping blood vessels. In. My. Sleep.
In other news - I can't believe I just live blogged a spelling bee.
How can you miss "cilice"? Didn't you read The Da Vinci Code?????