Flashback Friday # 118

The Spelling Bee

A warm welcome on this chilly day to those who have stopped by. Today I bring fort a narrative that the Spellcheck will find hard to believe. (My Spellcheck thinks I'm an idiot.)

In 8th grade, we were given a 50 word spelling test. The top 25 spellers would compete for a chance to go to the county level. I was somewhat surprised to discover that I was among the top 25.

The 25 finalist met in the auditorium one night. The school wanted the parents to be able to watch and cheer on their children. It was a good sized crowd.

One by one the kids misspelled words. Round one finished and I was still going. Round two went by. Round three I was still unscathed. By this time, There was only five students remaining. These were going on to the county spelling bee.

Round four saw the field whittled to four. I was up. My word was "submerge". I spelled it as "submerdge". I finished fourth. My best friend, Bart, finished third.

The county spelling bee was held in Cardington, my Mom's hometown. The school there had a visiting dignitary who agreed to be the Spell Master. She was from New England.

Needless to say, her New England accent was a bit harsh on our mid-western ears. In the second round, she asked me to spell "Huwisk". My eyes got big, I gulped, and said, "Huwisk, h-u-w-i-s-k. Huwisk" That is incorrect she bellowed. The proper spelling is w-h-i-s-k. I guess in New England, you pronounce the WH words as HW. Around here, Wheat is pronounced "weet". Whisk is pronounced "wisk". Nevertheless, I was out.

None of the kids from my school fared too well. It just hwasn't our night.