a little hilarity from overheardinnewyork.com

Love this website.

Lady on cell: Yes, that's right. N as in 'Nancy,' M as in 'umbrella'...-

-Brooklyn Botanic Garden


Conductor: This is a downtown V train -- V as in 'vasectomy.'

--5th AveOverheard by: Kim

MTA announcement: The next train is a Brooklyn-bound C train. C as in 'Shelly.'

--59th St station
Overheard by: Trey Givens


Loud man on cell: No, no, her name starts with an F... No, F... F like in 'phonics'! What? It doesn't? Oh, well, I guess you could spell it that way, too.-

-L train

Loudspeaker: This is the B-as-in-'badass' train. Transfer to the D and Four.

--Yankee Stadium station


Ghetto girl on cell: C... No! C -- like the last letter in 'New York.'-
-103rd & Lex

Best of Portland!

From the Willamette Week:

Best Way to Channel Your Inner Fourth-Grader

There's only one way to get over the lingering embarrassment of misspelling "tentacle" in front of 100 people in your elementary-school gym: a rematch. Sure, maybe 20 years have passed, and the bespectacled twerp that outspelled you has long since moved to the Midwest. That matters little to the folks at Mississippi Pizza Pub (3552 N Mississippi Ave., 288-3231), who have been hosting a surprisingly punctilious ("P-u-n-c...can I have the language of origin, please?"), albeit microbrew-muddled, Portland Spelling Bee every Monday night at 7 pm. Be forewarned, however: The injustice of failure stings just as much now as it did then.

so many new people this week

It was wonderful to see a lot of new faces, and a few people who had joined us a couple of times over the last few months, but aren't regulars.

Thanks everybody for trying us out! Of course, we all had a great time.

Remember, there's always a prize for the first person eliminated, so don't be shy. And Grandfather has a lollipop and a hug for EVERYONE as they leave the stage.

Stunned and Pleased!

Amanda was our host this week so that I could compete for the first time ever!

I was so nervous, and my hands were shaking each time I approached the mic (I had to leave my drink by my chair so I wouldn't spill it, even).

We had a field of 19 competitors, so the stage was packed, and as usual, there were a lot of wonderful spellers.

I would have missed six or eight of the words, at least, that others spelled correctly - but I got lucky, and I won!

I provided Amanda with a sheaf of papers containing unscrutinized words (usually I sort them for the appropriate level of difficulty and try to get some language-of-origin diversity while I'm at it), and she did a great job finding words on the fly (I gave her a long list of A through C words to cull from).

My winning word was ACCOUCHEMENT, and a couple of other words I remember spelling are BRACHIOSAUR, ALTOCUMULUS, and CASQUE.

Thanks to everyone for letting me have my fun!

Guest host so I can compete!

Monday the 16th - I will be competing, and I am terrified!

The illustrious Amanda will be hosting, and she will be great.

I'm a good speller and sometimes a lucky guesser, but I haven't been studying like some people and I KNOW I will be nervous in front of the mike.

I just hope I miss my word with humor!

Quarterly Finals - Dr. Bill bests Amanda and Kyle

BUT JUST BARELY!

Truly exciting and entertaining. The three of them spelled so many big words. I should take notes!