WWTBAM Bored

That was the winning word at last night's National Spelling Bee. And for the first time in 14 years, the final word was one that I've actually heard of.

Definition: (adj) indifferent toward politics or religion

Sentence: You'll find the Laodicean members of the Bored in the Moratorium Lounge.

I've never heard of it. I'm a terrible speller but would have spelled that correctly.

Of the words in the championship round, which I admit was the only Bee round I got home in time to watch, there was only one I spelled correctly. It is a word I have known, from having seen it in print, since I was about 8 years old. When the contestant got it I thought "what a gift". But for them it was not a gift. (I don't want to give words away here because someone might have the Bee on tape & hasn't watched it yet. But I don't want to spoilerize the whole darn message either.)

Think "science fiction fan, therefore also someone who reads about 'unexplained phenomena on earth'" & you'll know why I knew the meaning, spelling, & somewhat later in life the correct pronunciation, which it turns out I had got right all along at age 8.


The other words; there was one with a well-known word of similar eytomology which I didn't even get right. Because I apparently didn't even know how to spell the well-known counterpart. And even if I could spell the counterpart-word correctly, I would have gotten the Bee word wrong because it ended unexpectedly. Any one wanna figure out that one too?

ghostjmf wrote:Of the words in the championship round, which I admit was the only Bee round I got home in time to watch, there was only one I spelled correctly. It is a word I have known, from having seen it in print, since I was about 8 years old. When the contestant got it I thought "what a gift". But for them it was not a gift. (I don't want to give words away here because someone might have the Bee on tape & hasn't watched it yet. But I don't want to spoilerize the whole darn message either.)

Think "science fiction fan, therefore also someone who reads about 'unexplained phenomena on earth'" & you'll know why I knew the meaning, spelling, & somewhat later in life the correct pronunciation, which it turns out I had got right all along at age 8.


The other words; there was one with a well-known word of similar eytomology which I didn't even get right. Because I apparently didn't even know how to spell the well-known counterpart. And even if I could spell the counterpart-word correctly, I would have gotten the Bee word wrong because it ended unexpectedly. Any one wanna figure out that one too?

Not me! -- I don't want to figure it out. Could I please vote for the spoilerizing method? Just the two words, that's not much spoilerizing...

The other words I correctly spelled during last night's finals were all words I've seen before:

Spoiler

avoirdupois, becquerel, neufchatel, Reykjavik, and xebec

.

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:The other words I correctly spelled during last night's finals were all words I've seen before:

Spoiler

avoirdupois, becquerel, neufchatel, Reykjavik, and xebec

.

I would have gotten

Spoiler

avoirdupois, neufchatel, and Reykjavik.

I might have gotten

Spoiler

xebec

when they announced the definition, but most likely not.

ghostjmf wrote:Think "science fiction fan, therefore also someone who reads about 'unexplained phenomena on earth'" & you'll know why I knew the meaning, spelling, & somewhat later in life the correct pronunciation, which it turns out I had got right all along at age 8.

Scientist, S-C-I-E-N-T-I-S-T, Scientist.

If it fits all the clues in the question, the judges must rule my answer correct. If it's not the answer you were looking for, write more specific questions.

Your wish is my command:

word I knew as a kid:

Spoiler

"menhir"; reason I knew it is, of course, that the standing stones at Stonehenge are called "menhirs". Or at least some of them are. Maybe its the stones that stand alone, & are not part of the henge. Gotta look that one up, even after last night.

At any rate, science fiction books of the 50s/60s often had people finding menhirs on other planets. Or so it seems retrospectively, anyway.

The word I should have gotten from a similar word, but not really:

Spoiler

"isagoge"

Similar word is "pedagogy", which of course I misspelled on my own sheet "pedagougy" anyway. At least I got the "a" right.

An earlier word I almost spelled right I put an "ae" in where there was only an "a". I overthought these words a lot.

ghostjmf wrote:Your wish is my command:

word I knew as a kid:

Spoiler

"menhir"; reason I knew it is, of course, that the standing stones at Stonehenge are called "menhirs". Or at least some of them are. Maybe its the stones that stand alone, & are not part of the henge. Gotta look that one up, even after last night.

At any rate, science fiction books of the 50s/60s often had people finding menhirs on other planets. Or so it seems retrospectively, anyway.

The word I should have gotten from a similar word, but not really:

Spoiler

"isagoge"

Similar word is "pedagogy", which of course I misspelled on my own sheet "pedagougy" anyway. At least I got the "a" right.

An earlier word I almost spelled right I put an "ae" in where there was only an "a". I overthought these words a lot.

Thanks!

Two excellent words. I too would have gotten the first one right, the second one wrong.

Speling is ovRated. TV should show more dog wrestling.

I am gud at that.

Was dystopic in the Bee this year?

lb13

Lizbit wrote:Speling is ovRated. TV should show more dog wrestling.

I am gud at that.

How about dog vs. squirrel wrestling? The two of us could be big stars in the WWE.....

Evil Squirrel wrote:

Lizbit wrote:Speling is ovRated. TV should show more dog wrestling.

I am gud at that.

How about dog vs. squirrel wrestling? The two of us could be big stars in the WWE.....

Come on down to ground level, so we can practice!

Lizbit wrote:Speling is ovRated. TV should show more dog wrestling.

I am gud at that.

Remind me again why Michael Vick went to jail?

How about chihuahua vs. cougar:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200 ... cougar.kgw

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:

Lizbit wrote:Speling is ovRated. TV should show more dog wrestling.

I am gud at that.

Remind me again why Michael Vick went to jail?

He went to jail B cause he broke laws.

Dog wrestling is not dog fighting. Us wrestlers go by the "all teeth, no bite" rule. Fighting dogs try to kill each other. If U play that way, nobody wants to play with U again. Duh.

I used this word once in an email I wrote to a professor. I thought later I was being pretentious, but now I feel vindicated.

The word comes from the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations.

What's the big deal? I knew how to spell that word as soon as it appeared on my television screen. --Bob

yeh, also the first winning word in some time which sounds very familiar. But that may just be brain rot.

etaoin22 wrote:yeh, also the first winning word in some time which sounds very familiar. But that may just be brain rot.

I love the winning word! Euonym now sounds very familiar to me, and so will Laodicean soon.

Weyoun wrote:I used this word once in an email I wrote to a professor. I thought later I was being pretentious, but now I feel vindicated.

The word comes from the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations.

The book in the bible is Revelation, not Revelations.

TheCalvinator24 wrote:

Weyoun wrote:I used this word once in an email I wrote to a professor. I thought later I was being pretentious, but now I feel vindicated.

The word comes from the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations.

The book in the bible is Revelation, not Revelations.

I thought of that too after being corrected on it a while back and thought, "Nah, let the experts correct it."

SportsFan68 wrote:

TheCalvinator24 wrote:

Weyoun wrote:I used this word once in an email I wrote to a professor. I thought later I was being pretentious, but now I feel vindicated.

The word comes from the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations.

The book in the bible is Revelation, not Revelations.

I thought of that too after being corrected on it a while back and thought, "Nah, let the experts correct it."

Didn't you know, everyone on the bored is an expert.

ulysses5019 wrote:

SportsFan68 wrote:

TheCalvinator24 wrote: The book in the bible is Revelation, not Revelations.

I thought of that too after being corrected on it a while back and thought, "Nah, let the experts correct it."

Didn't you know, everyone on the bored is an expert.

Oh yeah, huh. I forgot.

TheCalvinator24 wrote:

Weyoun wrote:I used this word once in an email I wrote to a professor. I thought later I was being pretentious, but now I feel vindicated.

The word comes from the Church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelations.

The book in the bible is Revelation, not Revelations.

Not according to St John the Divan.