THE SPELLING BEE… and that one word that still haunts me

The 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee is happening this week in a 2-night event beginning with the Semifinals on May 29^th at 8/7c and the live Finals on May 30^th at 8/7c.

You can watch it on the ION network (which is free over the air) and on most cable networks.   

I’m always amazed at how bright these little spellers happen to be.   The origin of the word (and even “using it in a sentence”) would not even begin to put me in the ballpark of being able to spell these words they spout off without much thought.

In fact, I think back to my 4^th grade Spelling Bee and I STILL – to this day – remember the word that sent me packing:    PERFUME.     

Yeah, perfume!   I was always wanting a spritz of perfume ever since I was old enough to probably toddle around the bathroom.   But do you think I could spell the word correctly when it counted?  

Nope!   P-U-R-F-U-M-E.      

That got me the big buzzer.   Eau de Parfum became Eau Crap!

However, I think it was a learning moment.   I never spelled ‘perfume’ wrong again after that day.   I also didn’t enter any more spelling bees after 4^th Grade either.   No thanks!   I’ll misspell words all on my own in private, thank you very much!