Hey, look at that. There’s two 8 year olds competing in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Gee, those kids must be real whizzes in the classroom. They’re competing against 13 and 14 year olds. That’s amazing! Let’s see, they’re 8, so that means they’re in the second grade...the same grade as my daughter. Who’s 8. Who still needs to be told to wipe her nose.
Oh, my God.
My daughter is actually a decent speller. She handles some tricky words like “because” well. She usually gets “check plus” or a “great job” sticker on her spelling tests.
Then she drops forehead slappers like this: “I rod my bike to the stor.”
WHAT I’M THINKING: No college tuition!
WHAT I’M SAYING: Look at the words, honey. What looks wrong? Read it back to yourself. What sounds wrong?
So the idea that Ranul R. Malayappan of Danbury and Sriram Jagapeesh of New York will be tossing around words like “perspicuity” and “pourparler” around like so many balloons is unfathomable.
I figure there’s two explanations: These kids have been looking at flash cards since they day they were born. Or, they’re just geniuses.
I like the genius explanation, because it’s easier to take if mom and dad are regular doofuses like the rest of us.
Meanwhile, I will have a pourparler with my daughter about her perspicuity.
Hey, look it up.