Kavya's Climb to the Top

Here's a good AP write-up on last week's spelling bee.

Continuing the coverage here at Blog About Town, I thought it might be interesting to see how top bee finisher Kavya Shivashankar's winning words stack up against those of her two closest competitors this year.

KAVYA SHIVASHANKAR
disciples
mesophilic
ergasia
kurta
escritoire
hydrargyrum
blancmange
baignoire
huisache
ecossaise
diacoele
bouquiniste
isagoge
phoresy
Laodicean

TIM RUITER
giddily
echard
radiomimetic
clogwyn
Alastor
psittacosis
passacaglia
byssinosis
cretonne
jacqueminot
reredos
oriflamme
sophrosyne
Maecenas (misspelled)

AISHWARYA PASTAPUR
horrific
bodegon
diluvium
echinocystis
foudroyant
deipnosophist
tagliatelle
goombay
xebec
Caerphilly
wisent
antonomasia
guayabera
menhir (mispelled)

Not sure I could draw any conclusions from that, but feel free to draw your own.

I do note (again) that the TV definition of tagliatelle was something along the lines of "Pasta in the shape of noodles." Obviously that should have been "Pasta in the shape of ribbon-shaped (or shredded-paper-shaped) pasta noodles."

If you're unfamiliar with menhir, check out how I know it, from the Asterix comics I devoured as a pre-teen. (Asterix and Cleopatra is a must-read! So is Asterix the Legionary!)

As for the Mickey Mouse ears mentioned previously, you can sort of see them in this competition footage of Kennyi Aouad. What I realize about this is that the broadcast was on ABC, which is owned by Disney!



Source (00:54)

BONUS Here's an essay from 2007-2008 competitor Cat "Can You Give Me Another Word?" Cojocaru.