Fellow geeks, the time for supreme nerdiness is nigh. That’s right, it’s Bee Week.
Tuesday marked the kick off of the first rounds of the 84th Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, where brilliant children from across the country gather in Washington D.C. to prove that yes, they are smarter than you.
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We’ll applaud their achievements while we witness what we really came for: Children who journey closer to a breaking point with each letter they frantically scrawl onto their arms with invisible finger ink. And who could blame them? These kids are groomed as human dictionaries. Eventually, the obsessing over Latin derivatives will hit critical mass. We just hope to be there when it does.
This year’s National Spelling Bee Finals will air on ESPN & stream on ESPN3.com.
In 2007, 11-year-old Kennyi Aouad of Terre Haute, Indiana lost his composure but won hearts during a giggling fit that was sparked by the word, “sardoodledom.”* Aouad went on to qualify for the National Bee again in 2008 and tied for fifth place in 2009.
*\sar-doo-dle-dom\ noun, mechanically contrived plot structure and stereotyped or unrealistic characterization in drama