Stung at the Spelling Bee

Have you ever entered one of those fundraiser Spelling Bees? I’ve done that a couple of times and it’s really hard. One time I did it as part of a group and another time I went solo. They give you this book to study beforehand. It lists every word known to mankind (sort of a dictionary with no definitions or etymologies (yeah, I spelled that right without spellcheck.)) Are you kidding me? I never got past the “A’s”. Both years I went “out” on the first word. I remember my word the first year was “Guatemalan”. Well, that was one word I had not studied (it wasn’t in the “A’s”). And I don’t use that word often. In fact, I think I can say I’ve never used it. Not even in Scrabble. (Nothing against my Guatemalan readers…)

The contest was televised both years I was there, and both years the news anchor from the station doing the broadcasting won the contest. Can you spell F-I-X-E-D? 

Happy American Thanksgiving!