$200 CASH Prize on December 31st!

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

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!

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?

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

October 8: Quarterly Finals

$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!

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

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

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

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!