NATIONAL SPELLING BEE: FOLLOW-UP

The Art Linkletter catchphrase "Kids say the darndest things" certainly applied to some of the competitors who artfully linked letters in this week's National Spelling Bee.

Part of the "darndest things" concept hinges on the difference between what the kids actually say and what the kids ought to say according to adult convention. This was clearly at play in the post-victory interview with champion Evan O'Dorney. The grown-up kept on trying to get Evan to say that, having won, he now likes spelling bees much more than he once did. Evan eventually froze up, seemingly divided between going along with the interviewer's bee-promoting baiting and sticking with his clear and actually very understandable position that there are other things--such as math and music, if memory serves--that really bring him joy. (The official spelling bee bios emphasize the other activities that the kids pursue--music and sports and other stuff that come across as much more fun than months of monkish studying--yet this year's interviewers just didn't seem to get it and all it implies.)

The more I think of this scenario, the more I think about how many victory interviews are just so much predictable claptrap. The players thank God and say they're going to some amusement park. But if a player bucks the trend and doesn't jump on the promotional bandwagon, it's almost shockingly blasphemous--and a real challenge for the interviewer. You can see more evidence of this in O'Dorney's morning-after interview on CNN--it's tough for the interviewer to deal with a spelling specialist who just doesn't play the conventional interview game. (Thanks, Matthew Felling, for the lead.)

And then there's Sarah Mirza, whose extra e in mouchoir stood for a sixth-round elimination. Dan Steinberg got a great interview with her in which she reflected, "I mean, yeah, being able to spell is a good skill to have the rest of your life. It'll make your CV's look better and stuff like that. But being able to spell whatever my word was? I don't even remember, mouchoir? No. I'm never going to use it again."

I've got nothing against the more immersed spellers, but it's refreshing to get a dose of Mirza's sense of perspective. I'd expect nothing less from a young woman who stated that her interests are "reading, writing, ranting, raving, running and alliteration." (That's the kind of thing that, I think, an Emily I know would have done back in the day. And now I see that she has similar thoughts re the victory interview!)

I learned about the Sarah Mirza interview from A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago, home of exceptional spelling bee coverage. The folks there offer a number of tips for improving the Bee here and here. I think they make some good points. At the moment, I'd only add something about improving pronunciations/enunciations/amplifications if they were truly problematic.

Oh--the folks at A List... mispelled alliteration A-L-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-I-O. I prefer to think that that's really how Sarah Mirza put it--it's so original!



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