Portland Spelling Bee

$200 CASH Prize on December 31st!

2007-12-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

That's right, $200 cash for the winner, along with the title of 2007 GRAND CHAMPION. We'll also have gift certificates for the first two runners-up and audience prizes too. 7 pm, as usual.

20 or under? Come to the kids' Bee at 5:30 pm! All entrants receive a CHAMPION shirt. My 9 year old will certainly be up there competing, and I've even seen younger kids who could spell up a storm - bring them on!

Stay for the party, too - at 9:30, a Cuban band will be playing so you can dance your way into 2008.

This Week's Champion: Egret

2007-12-04T16:48:00.000-08:00

And the winning word:

FREESIA.

Congrats to Egret! I certainly hope she'll be back to try for the $200 cash prize at the 2007 Championship.

Here are the words spelled, in no particular order:

DATIVE
EUCHARIST
FURBELOW
EBENEZER
EUGENICS
FIDGETING
DIGRESSION
FLAILING
CULOTTES
ELECTROLYTE
FUSTIGATE
GLITTERING
GITANO
ENCOMIASTIC
EQUESTRIAN
EXEQUIES
ETHYLENE
EQUERRY
GATEADO
FLAGELLATORY
ENATIC
EMBERGOOSE
FESTSCHRIFT
GADARENE
EQUIVOCATION
EXCOGITATE
EMACIATION
DRIZZLE
GLOUCESTER
PARENTAGE
DECATHLON
GLYCERINATED
CULVERT
FRIGID
GADGETRY
ENCHANTED
DIFFUSION
FEARSOME
RETINUE
DROWSILY
DRAGOON
DUBIOUSLY
EXCLUSIVE
ELOQUENT
DOVETAILED
CUBIT
DRAMATIZE
CORPS
DECADENCE
CORRODE
EGYPTIAN
LEVIATHAN

Dr. Thomas - Thanks!

2007-11-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, my friend the (former) English Professor subbed in for me.

Thanks so much, Thomas!

He kept track of the words (in no particular order):

RECYCLABLE
RADARSCOPE
CYTOLOGY
THERMOPHILOUS
REDACTION
FACETIOSITY
ECLECTIC
CIRCINATE
CHURRASCO
DERMAL
RETROCEDE
OMBROPHILOUS
SCRIPOPHILY
MESOSCALE
SCRIMMAGE
CIRRHOSIS
FERMATA
BRACHYOLOGY
QUODDY
CIRCUMAMBULATE
RENIFORM
FALLIBILITY
CLAUSTROPHOBIA
REPERTOIRE
CICADA
TETRACHLORIDE
TENEBRISM
CITADEL
CISLUNAR
METAMORPHOSIS
ELEEOMOSYNARY
DESECRATION
SACRISTAN
CHUTNEY
MALVERSATION
PURL
RESURRECT
ELLIPSE
DAEDAL
LUMINOUS
FACULA
PRECIPITATE
LUTE
REVELRY
SALTATORY
RETROGRADE
MITIGATIVE

What, spelling for KIDS, too?

2007-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

Yes!

On New Year's Eve, we'll have a kids' bee at 5:30 (20 and under), with our regular bee at 7 (21+).

Expect a lot of prizes and fun, and special t-shirts for the kids and the 2007 Grand Champion.

Stay, if you like, to usher in the New Year with cuban music, which will begin at 9:30.

Congrats to Norton

2007-10-24T12:23:00.000-07:00

Our champion this week was Norton, who has been regularly drinking rum-and-cokes with us for a few months now. Congratulations!

The winning word was FIANCHETTO, a move in chess.

word list from this week

2007-10-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Matt Whitman, who I'm sure will be back:

Round 1:
reprieve (ding)
recuperation (ding) dermatology
pulmonary
precipitation
renounce
revelatory
desultory
referendum
powwows
sconce
rhythm (ding)
squandering
cinematographer
scrimshaw
resolute

Round 2:
legislature
luminosity
prattle
malapropism
sacrosanct (ding)
deterrent (ding)
scriptural
parmesan
refectory
safari
feint (ding)
fennel
ponderously

Tough Beer Pitcher of Words:
occultation
leguminous
desacralize
mitochondrion (ding)
derogation
rheum (ding)
lecithin
oculus (ding)
quintal (ding)
metallurgist (ding)
dermatophyte (ding)
echolalia
quiescently
ochlophobia (ding) (me! ouch!)
prognosticator
ptarmigan
quila
philippics (ding)
ptosispultaceous (ding)
peirastic (ding)
novercal
macropterous FOR THE WIN!

Thanks, Matt!

Fun Twist!

2007-10-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

This week I changed the format slightly, and it was a lot of fun.

I drew two words out of my beer pitcher, and let the spellers choose which one to spell.

For example, you might be offered the options:

EMMELEIA

noun, Greek. a solemn and stately dance used in ancient Greek tragedy. "The dancers performed the emmeleia with grave mournful gestures."

or

ALISON

noun, English. a plant of a genus of European and Asiatic herbs having small usually yellow flowers. "Bernice added an alison to her bouquet."

I think I'll keep this up for a few weeks at least.

Fun Link: Spelling Test

2007-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Can you pass the spelling test? Well, at least you'll learn something if not!

Click here to check your knowledge of Fifty Commonly Misspelled Words.

I missed 7 (ouch).

12/31: 2007 Championship

2007-10-10T12:46:00.001-07:00

New Year's Eve falls conveniently on a Monday this year, and we are taking full advantage of this opportunity to make the 2007 Championship Bee even more of an event.

I will either be in sequins or a tux - and I encourage all of you to make the most of the evening as well!

We will have cash for the champion and prizes for audience members. And drink specials, of course.

We'll still start at 7 (the Bee usually runs til 8:15 or so) so you can make the event the kick-off of your celebration.

Quarterly Finals: Science Teachers

2007-10-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Two science teachers (and friends) faced off at the end of an exciting bee for the championship.

October 8: Quarterly Finals

2007-09-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

$100 cash prize!

All of our champions from July, August, and September are eligible for the competition (show up in your t-shirts, please - and your cover is waived if you do, too), and there will likely be plenty of "Wild Card" spots for audacious spellers who want an extra challenge and a shot at the cash.

Back to School Night!

2007-09-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Back to School Night was great fun, and we raised $80 and collected school supplies that will eventually end up in Portland Public School classrooms, via Schoolhouse Supplies.

Professor Banjo entertained and educated us (we can all spell C-H-I-C-K-E-N now, I hope!); his day job is teaching at the Village Free School.

We had a lot of teachers there, from preschool through university level - and Bill Long (who has taught at several colleges around the region) was our winner.

Professor Banjo

2007-09-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the Back to School theme, on September 17 Professor Banjo will regale us with old-timey tunes.

Also, there will be some sort of drink special.

See you there!

lazy August, but Back to School

2007-09-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

We had a great time this August, with some crazy spellers, a night with 25 spellers and a packed house, consistently crowd-wowing intellectual prowess, and a sleepy Labor Day with only four teams for tag-team night (congrats to Quieu-Oanh (I know I misspelled that!) and Pietro, our champions!).

But it's BACK TO SCHOOL season now! On September 17, we're having Back to School Night, with extra prizes. Bring a donation of school supplies (or your $2) cover for our benefit.

a little hilarity from overheardinnewyork.com

2007-07-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-27T12:03:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-27T12:01:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-07-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

BUT JUST BARELY!

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

Dr. Bill Long

2007-06-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Bill defeated a highly accomplished group of spellers this week ("only" ten, total, but I think only one person needed to use a second chance in the Round of Second Chances, and only one person was eliminated before that).

The rennaissance-man spelling champion (of at least three spelling bees that I know of), writer, professor, lawyer, man of the cloth, and problably more, has a great website.

He wrote a bit about the Bee this week:

... (O)n June 11, I ventured up to Portland again with a friend to participate in the weekly bee at the Mississippi Pizza Pub. The pub is one of the most interesting club/restaurant/hang out venues on the East Side of the Willamette. I love the easy atmosphere and friendly patrons. The spelling bee at the Pub began in January, and it is made more attractive by the excellent pronunciation and spirit injected into it by pronouncer, judge and general emcee Katherine Woods (I almost wrote "Words")-Eliot.

...(T)here were "only" ten competitors, we each were intelligent and even accomplished spellers. As is usual, Katherine "eases us in" to the competition by giving us two rounds of simple or "middling" words. We had "frustrated" and "gestalt," for example, while the only person who misspelled a word in the first two rounds missed the word "middling." The third round saw the onslaught of more difficult words, starting with lepidopterology, as well as the special rule which allows a person to get a "second try" on words this round. Most people didn't need that second try, however, because the remaining nine spellers breezed through the words.

The words got more difficult. I had matutine and pleiotropic, which I spelled correctly to the appreciation of the crowd. Another person correcly spelled obnebulate, which I might even have missed because the definition given ("becloud") I knew to be the definition of obnubilate. Turns out that the Unabridged lists both words, which both mean the same thing. A quick OED search on them says that both originated in the mid-16th century. So, we have two words meaning the same thing, both of which no one uses. Well, some people have three cars and only use one. The words roundlet (16th century hat) and nonnegotiable and recrement and myology and patriarchally and fain and hoary and plumose and koto were spelled correctly, and I thought we were going to be in for a long evening.

Three other words I had are also worthy of note: Euterpean, jornada and isotopic. The last isn't too bad, as long as you know the word "isotope" from your first-year chemistry class. Jornada (pronounced "hornada") wasn't bad, as soon as Katherine told me it was of Spanish origin). But Euterpean made me pause for a moment. I knew that Euterpe was one of the nine Muses of Greek mythology, but I had to stop and think whether the ending would be "ian" or "ean." I asked for the language of origin, and she told me it was "Greek." Greek uses "ean" as an ending. An example, which I have both gotten wrong and right (wrong once, right twice) at other bees is Terpsichorean. Terpsichore was Euterpe's sister. Thus, I figured that you had to spell them similarly.

Missed Words

So we kept going until a few spellers began to fade. Usually the thing that catches people is whether you have an "a" or "e" or "o" as an interior vowel when the word is pronounced as if the vowel is simply a "schwa." One person, for example, missed the word viviparous by placing an "e" after the "p" instead of the "a." One spelled nonagesimal mistakenly as nonegesimal. One person misspelled korrigan, the name of a fairy or witch in Breton folklore, noted especially for stealing children, by spelling it with an initial "c." Finally, there were two of us remaining: a woman and myself. I was given the word normothermia to spell. I had never heard of the word, it isn't in the Collegiate dictionary, and it was, as I have since discovered, a new word in the 1993 Unabridged. Yet, its first attestation in English goes back to the late 19th century, even though the OED gives us the first complete sentence with normothermia in 1949. "Normothermia is that range of normal environmental temperature at which there is neither stimulation nor depression of the activity of the cells." It is, in short "normal body temperature." I misspelled it, putting an "a" between the "m" and "t." My competitior also misspelled it, placing an "e" there. So, we were on to the next word, which my opponent also misspelled but which I then got right (I forget it now). My final word was koan which, to a former religious studies professor and an avid reader of David James Duncan in the past (he wrote "Mickey Mantle Koan"), was straightforward. So, I took the palm last night, even though I had misspelled one word along the way.

Here's the entire essay.

Commentary on the Rules

2007-06-05T14:41:00.001-07:00

I try, I really do. But not all of the National Spelling Bee rules are appropriate for our version of the Bee. So at the last Bee, I implemented a tweak to the head-to-head rounds that was just silly and confusing. Luckily, the two spellers were both very talented and it really was an even bet as to who might win (and Michael, I know you'll be back to work your odds again!).

So, next week I will try to simplify.

If you have any ideas about keeping the Bee running smoothly, let me know!

portlandspellingbee@gmail.com, or post a comment here.

MORE Tag Team Spelling!

2007-06-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

That was so fun a couple of weeks ago that I've got to do it again.

Tag Team Spelling, June 18th.

Bring a partner or find one at the Bee (don't worry, I'll facilitate!).

Trust me, it's really a blast. It was fun to watch the spellers confer with each other, and hear their whispers over the mic. You've got to come.

Too Many Words to Count!

2007-06-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

Had a fabulous head-to-head spell-off after the two final contestants had eliminated some great spellers, included at least a couple former champions.

Lucky number 13 finally won! Seriously, the number 13 HAS been a curse, it seems. Hmm. (Well, figurin' figures isn't my job at the Bee, so I feel free to make very mathematically improbable statements!)

Next Quarterly Final: July 9! I'm looking forward to it, of course.

Anyone want to play music anytime soon? Email me: portlandspellingbee@gmail.com.

Or drop by and tell me in person!

In the Oregonian!

2007-05-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/portland_news/117964950244430.xml&coll=7

Katherine's with a K, but spelling's with a bee

Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Spencer Heinz The Oregonian

The judge rises. She carries a plastic pitcher of words, and she rapidly gets to the point.
"Hello, I'm Katherine with a K," she tells the crowd, "and welcome to the Portland Spelling Bee."
She wears half-frame glasses and stands before a microphone in the Mississippi Pizza Pub. Sixteen contestants on folding chairs, with numbered cards on their chests, spell words she pulls from the pitcher.

She starts with easier ones, "writhed" and "velveteen" and the like, then enunciates her way through harder terrain from, say, "opsimath" to "saxifrage."

Her name is Katherine Woods-Eliot. She says she employs no word she cannot pronounce. A business card describes her as a "Bon Vivant, Dilettante," and what follows is the arc of a woman who went from simply loving words to an action figure with few peers -- at least in local pizza pubs.

Born in 1973 in Tacoma and raised and schooled near Seattle, she recalls spending recess with a friend writing and doing plays. By high school's freshman year, she had immersed herself in the study of gerunds, subjunctives and related innards of grammar.

"Most kids found it really boring and punishing," she says, "but I thought it was fascinating to find out how all those cogs work."

While in and out of college, she had a daughter and a son, finished a history degree at Reed, then spent a couple of years studying accounting at Portland State before hiring on as a research associate for a local financial services firm.

Yet something was missing, as they say, and then she saw the ad. This was last December. A North Portland pizza pub would interview applicants to emcee a weekly spelling bee.

First exhilarated and then panicked, she looked inside herself. She had debated in high school but hadn't given a speech for a long time. Then again, she had been hoping to build her public speaking skills, so she focused on her strength: The pub wanted applicants to show up with lots of ideas, and she had never been short on those.

Like a librarian

She showed up in a skirt and a man's vest hoping to project a certain image: "I guess that would be of a librarian," she says, "with a sense of humor. Knowledgeable but fun."

Standing ready to interview applicants was Philip Stanton, co-owner with wife Stephanie of the Mississippi Pizza Pub and a man who adds: "I'm a horrible, horrible speller." He admires those who are good. He had talked with four applicants, each of them fine, then in walked Katherine with a K.

He says from the moment he saw her -- poised and professional yet graced by a face that gently reddened -- he figured she could be the one.

"She's an attractive woman, and there was something librarian-ish about her," Stanton recalls. "And the combination for this particular venue was perfect."

A couple of days later, he asked her whether she wanted the job.

"Yes! More than anything!" K says she replied, and she called together a focus group to test ways to run the thing. Ideas went from how to configure contestants' chairs to how to respect the nature of Monday nights so as not to keep workaday patrons up too late. They also considered whether to ask contestants to reveal their favorite letter and why.

"We dispensed with that," she says. "We decided to just spell."

The pub displayed a slogan, "Finally, a way to prove you really are smarter than everyone else!" The next Monday, Jan. 8, she finished another financial-business workday, clipped out words on slips of paper and headed to the pub on North Mississippi. She was too anxious to eat.
Rules from the stage

The owner announced her presence, and she arose to announce the rules: The judge will select and pronounce a random word from the pitcher. The contestant shall repeat it, spell it and say it again.

As some might say, the audience was spellbound, and things wrapped up to the sound of cheers.
"There was a huge sense of relief," she says. "And then there was -- 'Wow, that was really fun!' Public speaking is a thing that a lot of people fear more than death. I thought, 'Am I crazy to like this? I mean, am I wrong?' "

She decided she was right, and each Monday since has likewise spritzed the pub with bits of drama and joy. Moments have ranged from the unveiling of grand trains of syllables (two of her favorites have been "pandowdy" and "Panglossian," a glissando that sounds so great that it barely matters what it means), to the tension of contestants making saves on words they have no normal right to know. With limited time and maybe a beer, they dig through linguistic roots -- just as contestant No. 7 did the other night as one of the final survivors.

K ran him through words from "rued" to "usufructuary" -- and eventually, to "viga."
Two syllables.

He asks her to say it again.

Viga.

From the Spanish. Refers to a type of heavy ceiling rafter.

No. 7 takes a moment to think it through. He is Sam Dahan, 52, a local software engineer who was born in Morocco. His native language is French. He ended up in this -- his first spelling bee, he later says, in any language -- simply as the fortunate friend of some parents and kids in the crowd.

"Viga," he replies. "V-I-G-A. Viga."

That is correct, the judge proclaims, and the crowd tilts into applause.

He has ridden from out of nowhere to big news within these walls.

She presents him with a championship shirt.

"I called my cousin," he exclaims a few days later. "And my wife called the whole family."

As for K, who had launched herself from the everyday to the rarefied air of pub-stage usufructuary (from the Latin), she reflects on what she seeks from this higher plane of hope.

"To leave the audience happy," she says, "after a moment of intellectual stimulation."

Spencer Heinz: 503-221-8072; spencerheinz@news.oregonian.com
©2007 The Oregonian

Passion Party June 11

2007-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

We don't often have events after the Bee (after all it is Monday night and some of us do have to get up in the morning), but on the 11th we've got something interesting.

Passion Party! Like tupperware, sort of, but accoutrements for enhancing and exploiting passionate moments.

All genders welcome - and no cover.

Co-Champions!

2007-05-25T09:58:00.001-07:00

A glorious field of highly accomplished spellers resulted in three champions this week.

I was so blinded by their brilliance and busy with attempts to hand out t-shirts that I forgot to write their names and winning words down!

Tag Team Winners: Peter Marie and Amanda Margaret

2007-05-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

After many attempts (and a stint as our entertainer), Peter Marie, along with many-time Champ Amanda Margaret, prevailed in tonight's Tag Team Bee.

We had some great moments and will definitely do this again!

Winner: Rob Forester

2007-05-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

New to the Bee, Rob beat out Norton, with whom he partnered the subsequent week, for the title.

Championship words: garbology and Jainism, which I did indeed pronounce correctly, which we determined after much analysis of the tiny slip of paper and the pronunciation key.

SPECIAL EVENT!

2007-05-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Tag Team Spelling!

Monday (of course), May 14th. Two-for-one cover when you sign up with a partner.

If everyone gets more chances to spell, does that mean that ALL contestants have a better shot at winning ?!?

Scintillating Spelling

2007-05-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Some great rounds with some brilliant spelling, and some hilarious rounds with lots of missed words - resulting in a very jolly atmosphere and a lot of mildly pensive spellers leaving and remounting the stage.

Silly Week at the Bee

2007-04-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

We had a light turnout this week AND the musical guest bailed on us!

But it was ok, as Alexis, who is 7 years old and utterly adorable, sang us a song (I gave her a CHAMPION t-shirt, don't tell anyone) and Jacob, who was also a speller, gave an impromptu poetry reading.

We had some fun with it, and in the end were down to three great spellers, Peter Marie (who is a regular speller and also plans to perform for us in a few weeks), Temple (who was the runner-up), and Amanda Emerson, who earned a repeat win.

The winning word was THEREMIN. After Temple missed ZEBU - which is pronounced zee-byoo and is some sort of Asian humped cow - Amanda nailed theremin.

Portland International Spelling Bee

2007-04-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Won this week by Ann Tudor, a Canadian visiting from Toronto!

Her sister Sara, in town from Denver, participated as well. She's excited to get a Bee going in her hometown, so I hope we'll be kept in the loop on that.

Thankfully, they kept some notes for me, so I can report that the winning word was (fittingly enough) BIBLIOTHERAPY.

After a nail-biting championship round characterized by excellent spelling back and forth, Ann emerged the winner.

They both missed PARAGOGE, and then our erstwhile runner-up (I will put his name in if I remember it!) missed TOILE.

Since it's French, it's pronounced TWALL (with hardly any acknowledgment of the L sound) and he just simply didn't know the word. He asked the audience, "How many of you are familiar with TWALL?" and since it's not an uncommon word (a fabric or upholstery pattern depicting bucolic scenery). TWALL is how he spelled it, and Ann got it right.

Our musical interlude was provided by Emma Hill, who sang us some really sweet songs.

Quarterly Finals

2007-04-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

So many talented spellers!

We had a great turnout of past champions and some brave challengers taking the Wild Card spots, too.

We had to resort to some rounds of backward spelling, which challenged all of us. In the end, Bill Long was the winner (of the $100 cash prize and a lot of glory!) and three others qualified for the year-end Finals.

Ross Beach entertained us with, among other ditties, a medley of spelling-related songs, including one by The Rutles in which we learned how to spell CHEESE and ONIONS, and a plaintive take on M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E which definitely touched my heart.

Blogging The Bee: Bill Long

2007-03-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Bill Long has an amazing web site, largely devoted to words and literature; this is the introduction to an essay on the origins of some fascinating words in which he mentions us:

A Portland Spelling Bee

Bill Long 2/20/07

At the Mississippi (Ave) Pizza Pub

Last night I decided to venture up to Portland to take part in the weekly spelling bee at the Mississippi Ave. Pizza Pub in North Portland. I ended up getting 2nd, losing to Linda Goertz, whom I like a lot and whom I met last year at the Oregon Senior Spelling Bee. She has already blogged her victory; I congratulate her on it. However, the purpose of this essay is to introduce some of the words that were either given last night in the Bee or which Linda, Julie Golden (an excellent speller who arrived with Linda) and I were discussing before the bee or which I wanted to note on this page. I will just list nine words and only have time to write about one, I fear. Here is the list: faja (the winning word, some kind of sash), helobious (from the kids' 2006 bee; for some reason it is on my mind--having to do with living in marshes or swamps); hematopoiesis/hematopoietics (one of Linda's favorite terms--having to do with formation of blood cells in a living body); pashm (the soft underfur of Tibetan goats--I actually found this word on the way to trying to find Julie's word that she missed--I still haven't found it, but I settled for pashm), larithmics (see below); fermiere (food prepared in plain country style; lit. "after the farmer's wife"..I wonder if she cut off their tail with the carving knife...); ranine (of or relating to frogs; whoops, a friend of mine has a daughter named Rana--I wonder if she knows..); mussitation (either movement of the lips without sound or a murmuring); incurvariid (another one of Linda's words--meaning something to do with a moth). As I tend to do, I run home and do full word searches on as many words as I can, not only to learn to spell or define the word but also, wherever possible, to create and understand the human context which produced the word. Here is my effort on larithmics, which was actually spelled correctly by one of the contestants last night.

Read the rest ...

Winners Blog Us! Linda Goertz

2007-03-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

From Linda Goertz's Foster Powell Blog:

Do U Spel Gud? Mee 2
Posted by Linda Goertz February 20, 2007 07:07
Foster-Powell Index

Last night at Mississippi Pizza Pub there was a spelling bee, as there has been every Monday night for a couple of months -- and hopefully will continue for quite a while. Portland definitely has caught the spelling bee fever (another local bee is at Night Light Lounge, last Sunday of every month, but as their website indicates there's smoking there in the evenings, my lungs and I do not attend -- but if you don't mind that, please check it out and let us know what it's like)!
The rules at Mississippi are simple -- sign up by 6:30 or so and pay your $2 cover charge, and prepare to enjoy the fun at 7:00 (their lovely food and beverages can be an extra treat). The air is clear, the atmosphere convivial, and the competition is fierce. Everyone's having fun, including Pronouncer/Emcee Extraordinaire Kathleen Woods-Eliot -- but after the first round, be prepared for some knock-your-socks-off words.

I was there with two friends I initially met at the yearly Senior Spelling Bee in Aurora -- my friend Julie is one of the best spellers I've ever known, the winner of last year's Senior Bee, and an all-round fun person. Bill Long regaled the two of us during our pre-bee pizza time by firing practice words at us -- he's a consistent finalist in every bee I've seen him in. And me -- well, I enjoy spelling but really can't measure up to either of them, and as for "studying" -- oops, did I forget again??

So what happens? Remember what I said about luck? You could spell every word you hear but one -- but if that lone word happens to be the one that pops up when it's your turn, you're toast. Conversely -- as was the case with me -- you could be all at sea with half the words that are given to other contestants, but luck out when it gets to your turn -- either because you know the word or because your stab-in-the-dark guess turns out to be correct.

Bill and I made it to the final round and we both missed on "faena" (a bullfighting term; the pronunciation throws you off). Then he was given "tandoori" (a yummy Indian style of cooking). Mentally, I went t-a-n-d-o-r-i; he spelled it the same way and I was sure I was a goner, but -- Ding! went the bell. He had missed it! I gaped; then somewhere in the recesses of my brain I dragged up the double "o" and got that word. Then I was given the word "fajas," another word I'd never heard of -- and purely bluffing, I got it right and was officially the last speller standing.
As the week's winner, I got an incredibly cool T-shirt, a gift certificate, and the right to compete in the April 2 champions spell-off. I'll get creamed; it'll be fun. See you there?

Round of Second Chances

2007-03-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

This week was a blast, with some great audience participation and some hilarious contestants (we crowded 18 of you up on the stage, so thanks everyone for your deference! I am, as always, you obeisant servant, but there's only so much I can do).

The third round started out especially brutal, so we had a few second chances given, and then since the brutality never ceased, just about everybody got a couple of tries at their words. Still, the field was winnowed a bit and with a vow from me to actually do my job as judge and ding the bell when required, the spelling continued.

We had a stellar field, with the winner successfully spelling EXUVIATE (to molt) after the runner-up missed ESNE (a laborer or serf).

Next week: Champion versus Champion! $100 cash prize for the winner of the Quarterly Finals!

We have some Wild Card spots available on the stage so please come out to challenge our past winners.

Singles Night was fun!

2007-03-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

The atmosphere was a bit more rollicking even than usual and Grandfather said that the crowd liked the slightly charged atmosphere.

We had some fun with the contestants, but as usual, the serious spellers were out and we had a great championship showdown.

Next week: Quarterly Finals!

We'll have some room on the stage for some Wild Card contestants, so sharpen your wits and join us.

Tonight: Just plain fun!

Check us out in the Portland Tribune!

2007-03-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Unleash Your Inner Speller

Adult bee comes comes with victory, defeat, beer

By ERIC BARTELS

The Portland Tribune, Mar 6, 2007

Too old for the kids’ bees broadcast on ESPN, grown spellers show off their skills last week at the Mississippi Pizza Pub’s Monday bee.

Night has fallen outside the Mississippi Pizza Pub, and school is in session.

Never mind the unconventional hour for learning or the fact that it’s Monday, which isn’t exactly gold in the restaurant business. Nearly every seat in the eatery’s spacious dining room is taken.

Since early January, owner Philip Stanton and a hired gun, master of ceremonies Katherine Woods-Eliot, have been hosting a weekly spelling bee at the popular North Portland spot, and the response has been fervent.

That’s f-e-r-v-e-n-t.

“People immediately took to it,” says Stanton, who was inspired by a National Public Radio report about East Coast bar bees and was unaware of any that existed in Portland.

Woods-Eliot, a Southeast Portland mom who works for a financial research firm in Lake Oswego, says the bee “has been packed almost every time.”

In fact, Stanton says, the popularity of the event has led to a kind of spinoff. “Miss Wink’s Alternative Spelling Bee,” a variety show that also features a more “adult” version of the bee, was scheduled to debut last night.

The success that led to that expansion was in plain sight at the more traditional spelling contest last week.

As many as 50 onlookers settle in behind salads and pizza and beer, while 16 participants wedge onto a small stage in two tight rows of folding chairs. With little fanfare, Woods-Eliot introduces herself and the rough outlines of the event, and the competition is under way.

Three words into the first round, 24-year-old Brian Strub, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and clutching a pint of beer, bungles “execution.” Woods-Eliot rings the shopkeeper’s bell at her side, and Strub takes a seat.

Other contestants fall, too, taken down by quagga (extinct zebra relative), pottle (archaic drinking vessel) and milchig (Germanic word for dairy products), the last despite two tries.
One woman is challenged by the Algonquian word seapoose. Bewildered, she asks for the definition. “Oh, seapoose!” she exclaims facetiously upon learning that it is a type of boat. She gets a laugh. Then she gets it wrong.

Others, however, survive in impressive fashion, picking off nociceptor, reminiscences and vitellus. At the end of two rounds, eight competitors remain.

Everyone takes a short break while a young stand-up comic, Jesse Allison, entertains from the stage. He’s funny, in part because his material seems slightly inappropriate for the crowd. He pokes fun of green-leaning Portlanders, drawing several nonresponses. “A dry heave is as good as a laugh,” he says after one of them.

A few still v-y-i-n-g

When play resumes, two of the next three words claim a victim. “Ptolemaic” takes out another, as does “sone,” a unit of loudness. The room grows hushed with three contestants left.
Gil Carrasco, a 53-year-old law professor at Willamette University in Salem, stumbles on “phreatic.” Two words later, Portlander Jana Thomas comes up with “calash” after the word trips up her lone remaining opponent. Then she handles “desideratum” for the win.

Thomas, a receptionist at the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, is humble in victory as she sits with the same friends and co-workers who had insisted she come.

“I didn’t really care if I lost,” she says.

Her buddy Robin Freatman knew Thomas, 26, had the right stuff. “She’s a grammatical Nazi,” she says.

At a nearby table, Strub, the first contestant eliminated, recovers with the help of another beer.
“It was just me being an idiot,” he says. “I usually make it past the first round. It was kind of a brain fart. But I got a T-shirt, so it’s OK.”

A bit of n-o-s-t-a-l-g-i-a

Many in attendance agree that the bee is the more cerebral version of other childhood contests like kickball and dodge ball that have reclaimed a place in the now grown-up lives of Gen X and Y types, as well as some baby boomers.

“A lot of people have the concept of a spelling bee in their background,” says Stanton, the pub’s owner. “It’s amazing how many people have been in them. It’s a really neat way to show off.”
“You want to have a measurable way to compete,” says Bill Long, a colleague and friend of Carrasco, the law professor. Jones, who was taken down this night by “funipendulous,” says he attended a bee at a Seattle bar that drew 165 people.

Carrasco is excited to have discovered the Mississippi Pizza event, along with another that takes place twice a month at the Night Light Lounge on Southeast Clinton Street.

“It’s pretty cool,” he says. “I hadn’t competed in one of these since the third grade.”

Woods-Eliot, who is preparing for an upcoming Singles Night as well as a quarterly championship in April, admits there has been a learning curve for her as both the emcee and the sole administrator for the contests.

“We did get some complaints that there were words that were too easy,” she says. “We agreed that it makes sense to have it be more consistent. It’s got to be a challenge. We have a lot of people that have competed in spelling bees – they want it to be hard-core.”

Carrasco could attest to the quality of the competition.

“There’s some really good spellers out here,” he says. “It’s impressive.”

Portland Spelling Bee
When: 7 p.m. Mondays (participants sign up by 6:45 p.m.)
Where: Mississippi Pizza Pub, 3552 N. Mississippi Ave., 503-288-3231
Cost:$2 for participants and others; pub is all ages until 9 p.m., but spellers must be 21 and over

March 19: Singles Night!

2007-02-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

Spring is about to spring, and we're having Singles Night on March 19.

Spelling of course, and in addition, you could win a date with a contestant or a date with ME! We're springing for dinner and drinks on this double date.

Audience members will have a chance to get to know the contestants a bit, and make some connections that MIGHT lead to some dating but WON'T lead to public rejection!

Win prizes, drink the drink specials, scope out some hot spellers, and have fun as usual.

Welcome!

2007-02-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

It has been my great Honor and Privilege to host the Portland Spelling Bee at Mississippi Pizza every Monday at 7 pm (21+ to enter, sign up by 6:45).

I'll post updates here on the Bee every week.