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!



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

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 15 and Finish!

Aishwarya Pastapur gets menhir—a word I've known since reading Asterix comics as a kid! She doesn't get it, but she still has hope if the other spellers don't come through. But that's unlikely, IMHO. She's between a rock and a hard place.

In an almost ironic occurrence considering that Aishwarya is an old friend, Kavya Shivashankar succeeds with phoresy.

Tim Ruiter gets an arguably easy word: Maecenas. But wait! He spells it with a y instead of the initial a.

So now it's Kavya's chance. She gets Laodicean and seems to know it. And she does. She wins!!! And her friend Aishwarya ties with Tim Ruiter for second. Sweet!!

What a great run for Kavya, who's crying with happiness! Great showing, everyone!

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 14

Aishwarya Pastapur wears guayabera with pride.

Kavya Shivashankar finishes off isagoge.

Tim Ruiter shows remarkable control on sophrosyne.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 13

Ashwarya Pastapur owns antonomasia.

Kavya Shivashankar follows up on her escritoire with bouquiniste.

Tim Ruiter holds his oriflamme aloft.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 12

Kyle Mou spells schizaffin with an o instead of an a—ding!—and earns a standing O in the process. He could make a comeback if the other spellers fall as well.

But no. His teammate Aishwarya Pastapur charges through wisent.

This ensures Kavya Shivashankar her best showing ever. And she spells diacoele correctly.

Tim Ruiter trimphs over reredos.

Now we are three. Time for championship words as the bee goes past 10:00pm.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 11

Newbie Ramya Auroprem sadly spells amarevole with an i instead of an o. Ding! Well-done, of course.

Kyle Mou offers a glowing performance of becquerel. Aishwarya Pastapur gets a cheesy word—Caerphilly—and refuses to crumble. Illinois remains strong!

Kennyi Aouad spells palatschinken with a double l and falls flat as a pancake—but only in the figurative sense. He had a great run. Ding!

Kavya Shivashankar gets a fairly common musical term: ecossaise. This should be no problem for her given her interest in classical music. And it isn't.

Newbie Anamika Veermani seems unsure about fackeltanz—another music/dance term, and she trips up. Ding! Great work.

Tim Ruiter shrugs off jacqueminot.

Down to four finalists: two male, two female, two from Illinois!

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 10

Get ready for some impossible words—if not in this round, then very soon.

Ramya Auroprem muscles through iliopsoas—excellent!

Kyle Mou spells oeillade in the wink of an eye.

Aishwarya Pastapur seems to run into trouble with xebec but sails away with it and advances Scrabble in the process.

Kennyi Aoaud spells relief g-r-i-s-a-i-l-l-e.

Kavya Shivashankar continued to blossom with huisache. I almost spelled it correctly myself!

Anamika Veeramani is super-smooth with Neufchâtel.

Tim Ruiter cottoned to cretonne—at least his second "cotton" word.

Might as well take note here that the sample sentences are funnier than usual. Broadway influence.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 9

Julio Cortázar fans rejoice: Ramya Auroprem cold-bloodedly stomps out axolotl.

Note that the top two Illinois spellers remain in this round. Kyle "Laid Back" Mou makes a persuasive case for plaidoyer. Aishwarya Pastapur dances off with goombay

Kennyi Aouad lives up to his build-up by spelling hypallage.

Look for the way the backdrop bee's eyes line up behind Kennyi's head (and possibly the heads of other contestants: Mickey Mouse ears!

Kavya Shavishankar gets baignoire—a bete noire for me but not for her!

Anamika Veeramani prevails over arrhostia and saves herself from extinction.

Tim Ruiter byssinosis, which has an unending definition and doesn't put an end to him.

All seven spellers survive this round.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 8

I don't know what Shawn Johnson is doing on this show, but perhaps she can provide insight into what it's like for young people to be so intensely involved in this kind of thing. Nah. She's got some kind of a connection to a bee official.

Ramya Auroprem spits out geusioleptic.

Conchyliated conquers Serena Skye Laine-Lobsinger. And that's it for Florida. Good going, Serena!

Kyle Mou gets lucky, I think, by drawing avoirdupois—and he takes full advantage of the situation.

Aishwarya Pashtapur also draws a fairly common word: tagliatelle. but the definition? "Pasta in the shape of noodles"? Please. Anyway, she slurps it up.

We now pause for the great song "I Put a Spell on You."

Kennyi Aoaud gets teased before tangling with gyascutus—another fabulous creature. Kennyi is sniffling, but the word is certainly nothing to sneeze at. He kind of stumbled through it, but made it.

Kavya "Licorice" Shivashankar is a huge Nupur Lala fan. She gets a huge Monty Python word: blancmange and swallows it whole.

A shocker: apodyterium strips Sidharth "Super Side" Chand of his chances. Super sad, but he's still a great speller.

Neetu Chandak is back with derriengue, which sounds like a fever that affects the butt. She spells it fast, leaves out an r, and it bites her in the ass. You did the Empire State proud, Neetu!

Anamika Veermani gobbles up simnel.

And here's Tim Ruiter, dancing off with passacaglia—another word I know.

As Tom Bergeron points out, seven spellers remain: four female, three male. Not that it matters.

For blancmange:



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National Spelling Bee 2009: Round 7

National coverage begins with another ski word: avalement. How does Ramya Auroprem handle it? In a word: swoosh!

Next up: Serena "Ms. Effervescent" Laine-Lobsinger. She gets a word I know—omphaloskepsis—and nails it on the button.

A commentator [Paul Loeffler of ESPN] names Sidharth Chand and Kavya Shivashankar as the favorites.

Here comes Kyle Mou, who ices pogonip.

Dr. Jill Biden (Mrs. VP) is in the audience.

Aishwarya Patapur dispatches deipnosophist.

Please keep track of things here, but don't fail to check out the live chat at A List of Things Thrown Away Five Minutes Ago!

Kennyi "Mr. Jollity" Aouad gets the fairly common scilicet, scilicet namely.

Kavya Shavishankar shows her mettle on hydrargyrum.

Sidharth Chand—a chess player—checkmates Reykjavik (where Bobby Fischer faced Boris Spassky).

Tussah Heera is here—and she seems nervous. She has herniorrhaphy—and I think it's going to be tough for her. Ding—after a significant pause, she left out the second r.

New York's Neetu Chandak gets ophelimity and streaks through it to her great satisfaction!

We now pause for an interview with Kennyi, who really has a great sense of humor.

Anamika Veeramani gets Anasazi and spells it with native intelligence (if you pardon the expression).

Tim Ruiter flies with psittacosis.

It's down to ten, with considerably tougher words probably lurking around the corner.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Finalists

Here they are—seven female, four male!

Californian Ramya Auroprem is a teacher of Tamil.

Returnee Serena Laine-Lobsinger of Florida says her favorite author is Jane Austen.

Third-time returnee Kyle Mou, of Illinois, tied for tenth place last year; he's blogged about his involvement this year.

Third-time returnee Aishwarya Pastapur, also of Illinois, is a math whiz.

Third-time returnee Kennyi Aouad of Indiana is a crowd favorite who describes himself as "jolly."

Fourth-time returnee Kavya Shivashankar of Kansas has finished 10th, 8th, and 4th in the years leading up to this year's contest.

Returnee Sidharth Chand of Michigan finished second last year.

Tussah Heera of Nevada is an outstanding pianist who blogs and tweets.

Third-time returnee Neetu Chandak of New York speaks Hindi and wears charms.

Anamika Veeramani of Ohio hopes to become a heart surgeon.

Tim Ruiter of Virginia is said to do a killer Gollum impression.

National Spelling Bee 2009: Semifinalists

Only 41 spellers survived the first three rounds to duke it out on Thursday.

Neither of the Big Apple spellers made it, but Zachary Zagorski of Oceanside is in, as is Michael Sun of Paramus.

Their formidable opponents include Kavya Shivashankar and Sidharth Chand as well as Kennyi "The Giggler" Aouad, Keiko Bridwell, Neetu Chandak, third-grader Sriram Hathwar, Josephine Kao, Kyle Mou, Mouctika Paluri, Aishwarya Pastapur, Avvinash Radakrishnan, and Vaibhav Vavilala.

Here's Kennyi from 2007.



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