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JoeWras · 06-01-2019, 06:05 AM

Spelling Bee ends in unprecedented 8-way tie

Everything is extreme now. What happened to just having fun? I hope the participants of the spelling bee had fun, I think a few clearly did. Not sure about most of them. They clearly put a load of time and pressure into it.

In case you didn't hear, this year's bee ended with an 8 way tie. Totally unprecedented. The organizers realized it was going nowhere and announced the bee would end with 3 more rounds, which pushed it past midnight. They were right, the remaining 8 got all 24 words correct on the next three rounds. This could have gone on for days.

I'm guessing this is part of the "experiences over things" trend? That's cool, but it seems to be moving to extreme experiences? Is that healthy?

Or maybe it is just a blip in the rules. For example, swimming experienced controversy in the 30's when some wise guys changed the breast stroke into butterfly and smoked the field. They had to change the rules and even create a new stroke. Maybe the same is happening with the bee before our eyes.

Or, maybe, mom and dad have to hire coaches and tutors for everything their kid does. What's the fun in that?

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 06:27 AM

Yes that whole thing was confusing. The organizes said they realized they might have a problem when it took 6 and 1/2 hours the day before to pare down to the finalists. They actually said they were afraid they would run out of words. WTH, fire up your computer and print some more, you have 24 hours.

I think the real reason was they realized those kids might still be spelling by the time next years bee was supposed to start. Amazing and I'm curious as to who generate the coaching/training method to help these kids train for the bee.

RunningBum · 06-01-2019, 07:16 AM

I'll bet they could stump them with lose/loose, or advice/advise, or a few other commonly butchered words where the wrong similarly sounding word is used.

njhowie · 06-01-2019, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum

I'll bet they could stump them with lose/loose, or advice/advise, or a few other commonly butchered words where the wrong similarly sounding word is used.

Doubtful.

The moment the student asks "Can you give me the definition?" and "Can you use the word in a sentence?" the pronunciation for those words become irrelevant.

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum

I'll bet they could stump them with lose/loose, or advice/advise, or a few other commonly butchered words where the wrong similarly sounding word is used.

Did you happen to see any of the words used in the last round, you aren't giving these kids enough credit...

RunningBum · 06-01-2019, 08:03 AM

It's a joke, folks. About 5% of the population seems to use or spell those words correctly.

Here's another stumper for the kids:
"Your"
"Your. U-R. Your."
I'm not sure I've ever seen someone under 30 spell it as anything but ur. Maybe instead of having them spell the words out loud, they should have them text them. The contest won't last two rounds!

Still joking, folks. Have some coffee.

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum

It's a joke, folks. About 5% of the population seems to use or spell those words correctly.

Here's another stumper for the kids:
"Your"
"Your. U-R. Your."
I'm not sure I've ever seen someone under 30 spell it as anything but ur. Maybe instead of having them spell the words out loud, they should have them text them. The contest won't last two rounds!

Still joking, folks. Have some coffee.

How many years will it take before the spelling words are common text abbreviations ... I'll wager that some of words from the final will never be used in common conversation..

I'm a little sensitive to your joking today as you were pretty abrupt and short with me on another thread yesterday. Oh well today is another day...

6miths · 06-01-2019, 08:43 AM

I caught the last couple of rounds. Yes not many words in common usage and some downright foreign. Though I did recently look up the spelling of one of them. Not to be political but I found the make up of 8 in the final group to be sociologically interesting.

pacergal · 06-01-2019, 08:50 AM

Read about it, didn't watch it. Amazing kids! Never heard or read some of the words used and I used to be good at spelling bees in school oh so many years ago!

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6miths

I caught the last couple of rounds. Yes not many words in common usage and some downright foreign. Though I did recently look up the spelling of one of them. Not to be political but I found the make up of 8 in the final group to be sociologically interesting.

It's obviously a family project. That's the first thing.. family focus on competitive spelling. Something they do together and think is important.

This bring to mind MasterChef Jr. It's one of the all time feel good brain dump shows. When it started the young cooks were beginners cooking at an advanced kids level. The judges would actually mentor and teach them a few skills.

A few years later they have 8 years old in the kitchen with Samurai knife skills. They can whip up baked desserts you could buy in a high end bakery. There is obviously huge parental involvement and lots of money spent on culinary class. The kids are like little adults and a lot of the charm is lost.

6miths · 06-01-2019, 08:56 AM

Yes it does come across like a professional competition and I wonder whether it is for parents or children.

RunningBum · 06-01-2019, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivinsfan

I'm a little sensitive to your joking today as you were pretty abrupt and short with me on another thread yesterday. Oh well today is another day...

Since I've been called out publicly, I'm going to defend myself publicly. I was abrupt to you in that thread because I felt you had fabricated unfair scenarios about the OP of that thread, and then called their actions "not cool". That's all I have to say about that. If you have anything more to say to me, please do it via PM.

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6miths

Yes it does come across like a professional competition and I wonder whether it is for parents or children.

Something that can asked about almost every endeavor a child does, who is it really for? My youngest DD almost 25 years ago signed for 7th grade volleyball so she could spend time with her friends.

They had a Saturday "tournament" about 30 minutes from our house. All day... I didn't go it was Spring we had work to do. The next day at church I get stopped by a fellow teammates Mom asking me. "You weren't at the games yesterday, I noticed, were sick or something?" I said no I had work on the farm, well that was the wrong answer.

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum

Since I've been called out publicly, I'm going to defend myself publicly. I was abrupt to you in that thread because I felt you had fabricated unfair scenarios about the OP of that thread, and then called their actions "not cool". That's all I have to say about that. If you have anything more to say to me, please do it via PM.

Let agree to disagree, variety is the spice of life.

SecondCor521 · 06-01-2019, 12:11 PM

I believe the winner of the Scripps spelling bee gets a $50,000 college scholarship. If that is the prize, I certainly would expect the kids (and their parents, as the case may be) to treat it like a serious project. I heard that all 8 co-winners got the $50,000 this year.

I treated it like fun. I am a good speller, but never made it even to the state level.

ivinsfan · 06-01-2019, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521

I believe the winner of the Scripps spelling bee gets a $50,000 college scholarship. If that is the prize, I certainly would expect the kids (and their parents, as the case may be) to treat it like a serious project. I heard that all 8 co-winners got the $50,000 this year.

I treated it like fun. I am a good speller, but never made it even to the state level.

Nice that they didn't make the winners split the prize money.

HFWR · 06-01-2019, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6miths

Yes it does come across like a professional competition and I wonder whether it is for parents or children.

If you ever been to a youth league game in most any sport, you’ll find your answer. Parents, raising hell? And those well-meaning coaches who spout Vince Lombardi quotes to Pee Wee leaguers...

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.