Spelling bee
Encyclopedia
A spelling bee is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell
English
words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States
.
Today, National Spelling Bee competitions for English are held in the United States, United Kingdom
, Australia
, New Zealand
, Canada
, Mexico
, Indonesia
, India
and Pakistan
among others. Similar institutions are also found in numerous other countries such as France
's "La dictée" (de Bernard Pivot
) and Poland
's "Dyktando", differing in the fact that the competition is about spelling whole texts. They are rare to nonexistent in countries whose national language follows more phonemic spelling
rules, as compared to the largely historical spelling of the English and French languages. The first winner of an official spelling bee occurred in 1925 when Frank Neuhauser
, then 11 years old, won the 1st National Spelling Bee, in Washington, D.C. The 9 finalists were invited to meet Calvin Coolidge
at the White House
, a tradition followed by presidents for most of the ensuing 86 years of the contest.
has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee. Its etymology
is unclear but possibly derived from the Old English word bēn for prayer
.
's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller," Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States
for five generations. Now the key reference for the contests is the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary.
, the newspaper of Louisville
, Kentucky
. In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship of the program, and the name changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee
(later simply "Scripps National Spelling Bee"). As well as covering the 50 U.S. states, several competitors also come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand and Europe
.
In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which awards a cash prize to the winner. The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspaper
s and educational foundations; it is also broadcast on ESPN
. Since 2006, the National Spelling Bee's championship rounds have been broadcast on ABC live. In 2005, contestants came from the Bahamas, Jamaica
, Guam
, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa
, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico
, and a German military base, as well as the United States. This was the first year that spellers from Canada and New Zealand attended the competition. The final authority for words is the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary, the Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The annual study list is available from Scripps, either online or in print.
The National Senior Spelling Bee started in Cheyenne, Wyoming
in 1996. Sponsored by the Wyoming AARP, it is open to contestants 50 and older. Maria Dawson is the only contestant to ever win two back to back titles at The National Spelling Bee.
The South Asian Spelling Bee
is another spelling bee platform in the US. This annual contest takes place across the US each summer in search of the next South Asian-American spelling champ between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. Launched in 2008, the South Asian Spelling Bee
will tour 10 US cities in 2011 and is broadcast globally via the satellite channel, Sony Entertainment Television Asia
.
is the official Canadian spelling bee held annually nationwide in Canada
since 2005. The bee is affiliated with the United States
-based Scripps National Spelling Bee
and uses similar rules and word lists, and competes in all 10 Canadian provinces to provide a Canadian National Champion for the penultimate Scripps
competition.
It should not be confused with another organization, calling itself the Spelling Bee of Canada
, which started in 1987 in Toronto, Ontario, as an initial attempt to form a nationwide bee. As an independent and unsanctioned event not affiliated with the Scripps National Spelling Bee
, it is only able to field enough candidates to hold competitions in Ontario, and does not crown a true National Champion at all.
a spelling bee for schools is run by The Times
newspaper. It was started in 2009.
. The competition involves learning the correct spelling of words, their use in sentences and in multiple contexts. Currently, it is being held in India, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Bahrain, Dubai, Fujairah, Rasal Kaima, Sharja, and Umm-Al-Quwain,.
In Taiwan
The National Spelling Bee Championship is a contest held by Bugstation.tv for young English learners. Thousands of young applicants join this contest each year. They compete diligently for the Championship title. The goal of this contest is to promote the use of English through motivation, self-study and practice. Parents, teachers, schools as well as contestants have all praised this championship. Learn morehttp://www.bugstation.tv
Another organization that promotes the love of the English language is Horizons Unlimited, which is currently organizing an India Spelling Bee contest for Children in the southern state of Kerala in India. Affiliated to the IndiaSpellBee.com, which has been conducting Spell Bee contests in Southern India for the last five years, the Kochi event will take place on the 29th and 30 January 2011.
es and etymologies, and often foreign languages from which English draws, in order to spell challenging words. Additionally, there have been several preparatory materials, including those published in connection with the Scripps National Spelling Bee and those created by independent organizations not related to Scripps.
For the first several decades of publication, the Scripps annual study booklet was named Words of the Champions, which offered 3,000 words in a list separated into beginning, intermediate & expert groupings. In the mid-1990s the annual study list changed to Paideia
(from the Greek word meaning education and culture), which ultimately contained more than 4,100 words, then again in 2006 to the shorter list, entitled Spell It!, the 2009 edition having 1155 words (911 basic words and 244 challenge words).
The Consolidated Word List, also published by Scripps and available on the National Spelling Bee website, consists of all words used in the National Bee as far back as 1950. It is organized into three section: Words Appearing Infrequently, Words Appearing with Moderate Frequency, and Word Appearing Frequently. Nearly 800 pages and 24,000 words long, the Consolidated Word List is intended for those who have mastered the basics and already gone through Spell It!.
Spelling bee participants also use other reference books, notably the Hexco Academics series of spelling books, which feature strategies, methods and lists to further develop spelling skills. Tutoring materials are also becoming available on the web.
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
words. The concept is thought to have originated in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Today, National Spelling Bee competitions for English are held in the United States, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
among others. Similar institutions are also found in numerous other countries such as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
's "La dictée" (de Bernard Pivot
Bernard Pivot
Bernard Pivot, OC, CQ is a journalist, interviewer and host of French cultural television programmes. He is a member of the Académie Goncourt.-Biography:Pivot was born in Lyon, the son of grocers...
) and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's "Dyktando", differing in the fact that the competition is about spelling whole texts. They are rare to nonexistent in countries whose national language follows more phonemic spelling
Phonemic orthography
A phonemic orthography is a writing system where the written graphemes correspond to phonemes, the spoken sounds of the language. In terms of orthographic depth, these are termed shallow orthographies, contrasting with deep orthographies...
rules, as compared to the largely historical spelling of the English and French languages. The first winner of an official spelling bee occurred in 1925 when Frank Neuhauser
Frank Neuhauser
Frank Louis Neuhauser was an American patent lawyer and spelling bee champion, who won the first National Spelling Bee in 1925 by successfully spelling the word "gladiolus." Today, the bee is known as the Scripps National Spelling Bee.Neuhauser was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 29,...
, then 11 years old, won the 1st National Spelling Bee, in Washington, D.C. The 9 finalists were invited to meet Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, a tradition followed by presidents for most of the ensuing 86 years of the contest.
Etymology
Historically the word beeBee (gathering)
A bee, as used in quilting bee, working bee or spelling bee, is an expression used together with another word to describe a gathering of peers to accomplish a task or to hold a competition. Especially in the past, the tasks were often major jobs, such as clearing a field of timber or raising a...
has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee. Its etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
is unclear but possibly derived from the Old English word bēn for prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
.
History
The earliest evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates back to 1825, although the contests had apparently been held before that year. A key impetus for the contests was Noah WebsterNoah Webster
Noah Webster was an American educator, lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and prolific author...
's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller," Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for five generations. Now the key reference for the contests is the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary.
United States
The United States National Spelling Bee was started in 1925 by The Courier-JournalThe Courier-Journal
The Courier-Journal, locally called "The C-J", is the main newspaper for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th largest daily paper in the United States and the single largest in Kentucky.- Origins :The...
, the newspaper of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship of the program, and the name changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
(later simply "Scripps National Spelling Bee"). As well as covering the 50 U.S. states, several competitors also come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which awards a cash prize to the winner. The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and educational foundations; it is also broadcast on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
. Since 2006, the National Spelling Bee's championship rounds have been broadcast on ABC live. In 2005, contestants came from the Bahamas, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and a German military base, as well as the United States. This was the first year that spellers from Canada and New Zealand attended the competition. The final authority for words is the Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary, the Webster's Third New International Dictionary. The annual study list is available from Scripps, either online or in print.
The National Senior Spelling Bee started in Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
in 1996. Sponsored by the Wyoming AARP, it is open to contestants 50 and older. Maria Dawson is the only contestant to ever win two back to back titles at The National Spelling Bee.
The South Asian Spelling Bee
South Asian Spelling Bee
The South Asian Spelling Bee is an annual spelling bee platform in the United States for children of South Asia descent. It is an annual contest tours the country each June and July in pursuit of the top two spellers from 10 cities nationwide...
is another spelling bee platform in the US. This annual contest takes place across the US each summer in search of the next South Asian-American spelling champ between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. Launched in 2008, the South Asian Spelling Bee
South Asian Spelling Bee
The South Asian Spelling Bee is an annual spelling bee platform in the United States for children of South Asia descent. It is an annual contest tours the country each June and July in pursuit of the top two spellers from 10 cities nationwide...
will tour 10 US cities in 2011 and is broadcast globally via the satellite channel, Sony Entertainment Television Asia
Sony Entertainment Television Asia
For the version in India, see Sony Entertainment Television .Not to be confused with Sony Entertainment Television , the SET version in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Fiji....
.
Canada
The Postmedia Canspell National Spelling BeeCanSpell National Spelling Bee
The Postmedia Canspell National Spelling Bee, formerly called the Canwest Canspell National Spelling Bee, is a spelling bee held annually in Canada since 2005. The bee is affiliated with the United States-based Scripps National Spelling Bee and uses similar rules and word lists, adapted to best...
is the official Canadian spelling bee held annually nationwide in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
since 2005. The bee is affiliated with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-based Scripps National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
and uses similar rules and word lists, and competes in all 10 Canadian provinces to provide a Canadian National Champion for the penultimate Scripps
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
competition.
It should not be confused with another organization, calling itself the Spelling Bee of Canada
Spelling Bee of Canada
The Spelling Bee of Canada is a charitable, educational organization founded in the Greater Toronto Area in 1987, in an initial attempt to create a national Canadian spelling bee...
, which started in 1987 in Toronto, Ontario, as an initial attempt to form a nationwide bee. As an independent and unsanctioned event not affiliated with the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
, it is only able to field enough candidates to hold competitions in Ontario, and does not crown a true National Champion at all.
United Kingdom
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
a spelling bee for schools is run by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper. It was started in 2009.
Asia
In Asia, a spelling bee is being conducted up to the international level by MaRRS Spelling BeeMaRRS Spelling Bee
MaRRS Spelling Bee is a Spelling Bee competition held in Asia for school children. It is conducted by MaRRS Intellectual Services and uses Pearson Longman Dictionaries as their reference material...
. The competition involves learning the correct spelling of words, their use in sentences and in multiple contexts. Currently, it is being held in India, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Bahrain, Dubai, Fujairah, Rasal Kaima, Sharja, and Umm-Al-Quwain,.
In Taiwan
The National Spelling Bee Championship is a contest held by Bugstation.tv for young English learners. Thousands of young applicants join this contest each year. They compete diligently for the Championship title. The goal of this contest is to promote the use of English through motivation, self-study and practice. Parents, teachers, schools as well as contestants have all praised this championship. Learn morehttp://www.bugstation.tv
Another organization that promotes the love of the English language is Horizons Unlimited, which is currently organizing an India Spelling Bee contest for Children in the southern state of Kerala in India. Affiliated to the IndiaSpellBee.com, which has been conducting Spell Bee contests in Southern India for the last five years, the Kochi event will take place on the 29th and 30 January 2011.
Africa
In Africa, spelling bee is promoted by a company Gift People Limited, which currently organizes the Annual National Spelling Bee contest for children between the age of 7 and 14 in Nigeria. This effort commenced in 2008 when the first National finals was held in Lagos. It is popularly referred to as SPELLIT! Nigeria.Pakistan
In Pakistan, the spelling bee competition is promoted by Dawn, and it happens every year in October. There are three states district, Regional, and National. National is held in Islamabad.National spelling bee
Serious spelling bee competitors will study affixAffix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
es and etymologies, and often foreign languages from which English draws, in order to spell challenging words. Additionally, there have been several preparatory materials, including those published in connection with the Scripps National Spelling Bee and those created by independent organizations not related to Scripps.
For the first several decades of publication, the Scripps annual study booklet was named Words of the Champions, which offered 3,000 words in a list separated into beginning, intermediate & expert groupings. In the mid-1990s the annual study list changed to Paideia
Paideia
In ancient Greek, the word n. paedeia or paideia [ to educate + - -IA suffix1] means child-rearing, education. It was a system of instruction in Classical Athens in which students were given a well-rounded cultural education. Subjects included rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, music, philosophy,...
(from the Greek word meaning education and culture), which ultimately contained more than 4,100 words, then again in 2006 to the shorter list, entitled Spell It!, the 2009 edition having 1155 words (911 basic words and 244 challenge words).
The Consolidated Word List, also published by Scripps and available on the National Spelling Bee website, consists of all words used in the National Bee as far back as 1950. It is organized into three section: Words Appearing Infrequently, Words Appearing with Moderate Frequency, and Word Appearing Frequently. Nearly 800 pages and 24,000 words long, the Consolidated Word List is intended for those who have mastered the basics and already gone through Spell It!.
Spelling bee participants also use other reference books, notably the Hexco Academics series of spelling books, which feature strategies, methods and lists to further develop spelling skills. Tutoring materials are also becoming available on the web.
School spelling bees
Spelling bee students usually start competition in elementary schools (primary schools) or middle schools. Classes compete against other classes in the same grade, or level, and the winning class is determined by the score of each class.In television
- A British television show called Spelling Bee, featuring adult contestants and broadcast by the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
on 31 May 1938, is generally held to have been the world's first television game showGame showA game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
. - A game show on the former Black Family ChannelBlack Family ChannelBlack Family Channel was a network for African American families and the only black-owned and operated cable television network...
cable network, Thousand Dollar Bee engaged children in a spelling bee-like competition. - The 2004 game show The Great American Celebrity Spelling Bee featured four teams of four celebrities playing for charity. The show was hosted by John O'HurleyJohn O'HurleyJohn George O'Hurley is an American actor, voice actor, and television personality. He is known for the role of J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and was the host of the game show Family Feud from 2006 to 2010.-Early life:...
, and help for the celebrities was provided by Scripps National Spelling Bee participant Samir Patel. - Five episodes of the ESPN show Cheap SeatsCheap SeatsCheap Seats without Ron Parker, commonly shortened to Cheap Seats, is a television program broadcast on ESPN Classic hosted by brothers Randy and Jason Sklar...
presented and satirized the taped television coverage of the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 Scripps National Spelling Bees. - The NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
game show The Singing Bee is like a spelling bee but instead of spelling words, contestants have to identify lyrics to popular songs. - "Spelling Bee," a Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
comedy sketchSketch comedyA sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
in which Will ForteWill ForteOrville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte , is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002–2010 and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber.-Early life:Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of...
's character delivers a 75-letter misspelling of the word "business" that includes 12 consecutive q's
In fictional television
- The 1878 Bret HarteBret HarteFrancis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
poem "The Spelling Bee at Angels" describes a spelling contest held at a California gold mining camp. - A spelling bee features as pioneer family entertainment in Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls WilderLaura Ingalls WilderLaura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...
, in which Pa 'spells down' the whole town. - A spelling bee contest was sponsored by Brazilian TV host Luciano Huck, on his weekly show called "Caldeirão do Huck", since 2007.
Fictional television episodes
- An episode of FriendsFriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
titled "The One With The Late Thanksgiving" Rachel lies to Ross, saying that she took part in a spelling bee - "I'm Spelling as Fast as I CanI'm Spelling as Fast as I CanI'm Spelling as Fast as I Can is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season. The episode aired on February 16, 2003. Twenty-two million people watched this episode, making it the second-most watched episode since 2002.-Plot:...
", an episode of the animated television series The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie... - An episode of The Proud FamilyThe Proud FamilyThe Proud Family is an American animated television series that premiered on Disney Channel from September 15, 2001 to August 19, 2005.-Production:...
titled "Spelling Bee" - An episode of RoseanneRoseanne (TV series)Roseanne is an American sitcom broadcast on ABC from October 18, 1988 to May 20, 1997. Starring Roseanne Barr, the show revolved around the Conners, an Illinois working class family...
titled "Aliens" - An episode of PsychPsychPsych is an American detective comedy-drama television series created by Steve Franks and broadcast on USA Network. It stars James Roday as Shawn Spencer, a young crime consultant for the Santa Barbara Police Department whose "heightened observational skills" and impressive detective instincts...
titled "Spellingg Bee" - An episode of Hey Arnold!Hey Arnold!Hey Arnold! is an American animated television series created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. The show's premise focuses on a fourth grader named Arnold who lives with his grandparents. Episodes center on his experiences navigating big city life while dealing with the problems he and his friends...
titled "Spelling Bee" - An episode of My Name is EarlMy Name Is EarlMy Name Is Earl is an American television comedy series created by Greg Garcia that was originally broadcast on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States...
titled "The Professor" - An episode of South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
titled "Hooked on Monkey Fonics" - An episode of According to JimAccording to JimAccording to Jim is an American sitcom television series starring Jim Belushi in the title role as a suburban father of three children. It originally ran on ABC from October 3, 2001 to June 2, 2009.-Synopsis:Jim is an abrasive but lovable suburban father...
titled "Spelling Bee" - An episode of Full HouseFull HouseFull House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
titled "Spellbound" - An episode of Ned's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
titled "Sick Days & Spelling Bees" - An episode of Mr. BelvedereMr. BelvedereMr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
titled "The Spelling Bee" - An episode of The Suite Life of Zack and CodyThe Suite Life of Zack and CodyThe Suite Life of Zack & Cody is an American sitcom created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. The series premiered on Disney Channel on March 18, 2005 with 4 million viewers, making it the most successful premiere for Disney Channel in 2005. It was one of their first five shows available on the...
titled "Neither a Borrower nor a Speller Bee" - An episode of Drawn TogetherDrawn TogetherDrawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
titled "Spelling Applebee's" - An episode of the CBCCanadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
series The Red Green ShowThe Red Green ShowThe Red Green Show is a Canadian television comedy that aired on various channels in Canada, with its ultimate home at CBC Television, and on Public Broadcasting Service stations in the United States, from 1991 until the series finale April 7, 2006 on CBC...
titled "The Spelling Bee" - An episode of FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
titled "War of the Words" - An episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine WomanDr. Quinn, Medicine WomanDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
titled "The Dam" - Episodes of Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
titled "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" and "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington" - In an episode of Grey's AnatomyGrey's AnatomyGrey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
titled "The Name of the Game", Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Bailey treat a 7th grade regional spelling champion, making him spell words for them to distract him during awake brain surgery. - An episode of Get a LifeGet a Life (TV series)Get a Life is a television sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network from September 23, 1990, to March 8, 1992. The show starred Chris Elliott as a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson. Peterson lived in an apartment above his parents' garage...
titled "Chris' Brain Starts Working" - An episode of The MiddleThe Middle (TV series)The Middle is an American situation comedy television series that premiered on ABC on September 30, 2009. The show features Frances "Frankie" Heck , a working-class, Midwestern woman married to Mike Heck who resides in the small fictional town of Orson, Indiana. They are the parents of three...
titled "The Bee"
In film
- The 1969 animated film A Boy Named Charlie BrownA Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969 film)A Boy Named Charlie Brown is a 1969 animated film, produced by Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures, and directed by Bill Meléndez, it is the first feature film based on the Peanuts comic strip...
- The 1986 ABC TV-movie The Girl Who Spelled Freedom, about a Cambodian immigrant girl who competes in spelling bees.
- The 1994 film Billy MadisonBilly MadisonBilly Madison is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Tamra Davis and starring Adam Sandler, in the title role, Bradley Whitford, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald and Darren McGavin. The film was written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and produced by Universal Studios. It made over $25.5 million...
- The 2002 Academy AwardAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-nominated documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, SpellboundSpellbound (documentary)Spellbound is a 2002 documentary that was directed by Jeffrey Blitz. The film follows eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature; Yana Gorskaya's editing won the ACE Eddie award for best editing of documentary...
, featured eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee. - A scene in the 2004 movie Mean GirlsMean GirlsMean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
shows a girl spelling the word 'xylocarp.' - The 2001 novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Bee SeasonBee SeasonBee Season is a 2000 novel by Myla Goldberg. It follows a young girl as she attempts to win the national spelling bee, and the repercussions of her success on the other members of her family.-Plot summary:...
and its 2005 film adaptationBee Season (film)Bee Season is a 2005 American drama film adaptation of the 2000 novel of the same name by Myla Goldberg. The film was directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel and written by Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal. It stars Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche.-Plot:... - The 2006 film Akeelah and the BeeAkeelah and the BeeAkeelah and the Bee is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Doug Atchison. It tells the story of Akeelah Anderson, portrayed by Keke Palmer, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, her mother, portrayed by Angela Bassett, schoolmates, and also her...
where a young girl from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee.
In theatre
- EleemosynaryEleemosynary (play)Eleemosynary is a 1985 one-act play by Lee Blessing. It follows the relationships between three generations of women. The word "eleemosynary" itself plays a significant part in the plot.- Characters :The characters in the play are:...
, a 1998 play by Lee BlessingLee Blessing-Biography:Blessing's best-known play is A Walk in the Woods, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation...
, uses the spelling bee as a key story element. - The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling BeeThe 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling BeeThe 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a one act musical comedy conceived by Rebecca Feldman with music and lyrics by William Finn, a book by Rachel Sheinkin and additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley...
, a 2005 musical by William FinnWilliam FinnWilliam Alan Finn is an American composer and lyricist of musicals. His musical Falsettos received the 1992 Tony Awards for Best Music and Lyrics and for Best Book.-Biography:...
.
In literature
- A character in The Phantom TollboothThe Phantom TollboothThe Phantom Tollbooth is a children's adventure novel and modern fairy tale published in 1961, written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. It tells the story of a bored young boy named Milo who unexpectedly receives a magic tollbooth one afternoon and, having nothing better to do,...
, a novel by Norton Juster, is named the Spelling Bee.
- A novel Bee Season, in which Eliza Naumann participates in the final of the national Spelling Bee.
See also
- Dictation (exercise)Dictation (exercise)Dictation is the transcription of spoken text: one person who is "dictating" speaks and another who is "taking dictation" writes down the words as they are spoken.-La dictée:...
- www.sweetspelling.com 70 thousand study words -free