It was all hunky-dory Wednesday night for Galen Axel Anderson and Alexander Grammer.
Same for Elsie Ferreiro, Haya Salman and Katherine Wang.
Might you be wondering, that word, “hunky-dory,” has its origins in Dutch and basically means that all is well. It was also among the nearly 200 words the above quintet tore through at South Middle School.
The occasion was the 2020 edition of the Monongalia County Spelling Bee.
A total of 44 spellers from across the county spelled their way to the event in the auditorium at South.
The five left standing in the littered lexicon will now advance to the regional competition next month at Fairmont State University.
And after that, it’s to Washington, D.C., and the Big Bee: The 93rd Scripps Bee, which will be in May.
Never mind your computer’s spell-checker.
A spelling bee, no matter how digital the landscape gets, still requires old-fashioned scholarship for one to succeed.
It’s just you and the dictionary in your brain up there.
With more than 1 million words in our vocabulary, and with most of those derived from French, German, Latin and Old English, one can’t bump up next to the Bee any other way.
At South Wednesday night, it was a polysyllabic spree. You had your “aromatherapy” and your “palindrome.” And don’t forget “kurta,” “calamitous” and “diaphoresis,” while you’re at it.
Toss in a whole bunch of other, “Man, I knew that,” words just to make it interesting.
And maybe a little annoying, in a wordsmith way.
Brian Kiehl, the Mon County Schools administrator who organized the event, said he was impressed by the study the spellers put in for the evening.
You know: I-M-P-R-E-S-S-E-D.
“They did a great job,” he said. “They all stood right up there.”
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