How cute is that little spelling freak?

[Dookus]

David Tidmarsh, who won the National Spelling Bee today.



He was SO nervous at the end, he was crying while trying to spell the word. He hid his face behind his placard while waiting to hear the word. When spelling it, he got out one letter per breath.

He was adorable. Congrats, ya little freak.

Oh... the word was "autochthonous"

[Don_G]

1. Oh

I thought you were talking about NSMA.

[Dookus]

3. Oh c'mon..

she wouldn't know "autochthonous" if it bit her on the gluteus (which I hear is not an unusual occurrence) :evilgrin:

[pagerbear]

2. Autochthonous

au·toch·tho·nous (ô-tŏk'thə-nəs) also au·toch·tho·nal (-thə-nəl) or au·toch·thon·ic (ô'tŏk-thŏn'ĭk)
adj.
Originating where found; indigenous: autochthonous rocks; an autochthonous people; autochthonous folktales. See synonyms at native.
Biology. Originating or formed in the place where found: an autochthonous blood clot.
au·toch'thon·ism or au·toch'tho·ny n.
au·toch'tho·nous·ly adv.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

[arwalden]

4. To All Geeks EVERYWHERE...

Stand tall... Hang tough... it gets a little better. (You'll eventually grow into your ears and lanky legs... but you'll probably always be a geek at heart.)

And yes... he is cute. Ya just want to tousle his hair and pinch his cheeks!

-- Allen

Congratulations, David Tidmarsh!!

[DemoTex]

7. Yes, Allen

Good response. The little kid is great. Kudos to him.

[MisterP]

12. I hope you mean his face

:evilgrin:
I was in a spelling bee, but can't remember what disqualified me

[DemoTex]

5. My former ultra-RW fundy neighbor in Dallas had a grand-kid win ...

... the national geography bee a couple of years back. He crowed that it was due to the superiority of home-schooling in a Republican-Christian environment. Smart kid. Dumb-as-dirt fundy grandfather.

[Servo300]

6. I admire that sort of dedication

[Dookus]

8. so do I

but I do worry about the pressure put on kids that young. And that goes for beauty-pageant contestants, figure skaters and gymnasts, as well as the more academic pursuits.

[Squeegee]

22. I bet...

... that some of the "loser" kids are headed for beatin' tonight.

[Dookus]

24. heheh

yup.... them home-schoolers are up for a whoopin'

[k in IA]

9. Did you see the runner-up that fell over (or fainted or something)

then stood up and spelled the word correctly? Poor guy.

edit to add - remember the girl that got so exited when she spelled a word and she won the whole thing. She was hilarious.

[Dookus]

11. I caught only the end this morning...

but Tivo'ed the two hour re-broadcast. I skimmed through it, though, and didn't see the fainting episode. However, the show seemed to be in progress when they started. Was it very early in the competition, or later?

[k in IA]

15. They showed it on a couple of the news programs. He just

keeled over after they said the word to spell. A few seconds later he stood up and spelled the word. I guess his brother won this a few years ago. Feeling just a bit of pressure.

[m-jean03]

10. I used to dream of being a spelling bee champ. . .

But I lost at District level(5th grade) to the word "poison". :cry:

Managed not to cry until I got home, though! :P

[Donkeyboy75]

13. Uh, m-jean?

It's spelled P-O-Y-S-U-N

[Dookus]

14. awww....

that's sad.

But looking at the words these kids were spelling today, if "poison" stumped you, you woulda gotten creamed :P

[pagerbear]

16. Um, why is he a freak?

Because he's very intelligent? Because he studies? Because he's painfully shy? Perhaps you'd care to elaborate.

[Dookus]

17. It's a term of endearment

I'm quite fond of little freaks. They're my people.

[pagerbear]

32. OK, cool.

Sometimes it's not a term of endearment.

[FDRrocks]

18. You know I was one word away from going to the Nationals years ago...

I got 2nd because of goddamned Satellite. I just couldn't remember where the double letters were in the word.

When I see that he had to spell "autochthonous" to win the Nationals.... I'm glad I didn't waste my time traveling to get my ass trampled.

Oh yea, if you're wondering, I was almost the Florida state champ, that might explain it. :)

My aunt was Miss Florida 1989, we're not all losers over here. :)

[Dookus]

19. good for you!

Hell, I'm well-read and a really good speller, but I'd never heard of most of the words used today, and I could only hazard a correct guess on about half of them.

[FDRrocks]

20. Seriously...

I don't even know what "autochthonous" means!

I can see it now:

"Spell 'autochthonous.'"

"Definition?"

"Originating where found; indigenous."

"Could you use that in a sentence?"

"The Native Americans are the autochthonous people of the United States."

"Okay, what the hell are you talking about? Fuck this!"

[Dookus]

25. heheh

the funny part was when the kids had no fucking clue. They'd ask a ton of questions, thinking maybe the spelling would come to them - divinely, I guess.

Can you repeat the word? Can you give me its language of origin? Are there any alternate pronunciations? Can you repeat the definition? Can you repeat the word? They'd ask each question a few times.

I guess saying "fuck all if *I* know" isn't an acceptable response.

[PopSixSquish]

21. Dang, I Consider Myself to be Well-Educated

and I couldn't spell that word. Heck, I've never even heard that word.

Good for him!!!!

[IranianDemocrat]

23. Damn...

I wish I was that smart at his age.

[AwakeAtLast]

26. They have to have photographic memories

But I guess it also helps to know how to speak other languages. The 2nd runner-up missed a difficult German word. He knew he was toast, poor guy!;(

[Lou_C]

27. I like the kid that spit in her hands as she was spelling each word

Does anyone remember her?

[Dookus]

28. in today's show? I didn't notice

there was one girl that really bugged me.


She repeated every word before every question:

Coccyx. Can you give me the definition? Coccyx. Are there alternate pronunciations? Coccyx. What's its language origin? Coccyx. Can you repeat the word?

She just looked like the type who's gonna be a thorn in people's sides for the rest of her life.

[Lou_C]

29. The girl I am talking about was the winner a few years ago

Someone should have said COCCYX you little jerk and since you don't know how to spell it sit the hell down.

Right Winger in the making?

[Dookus]

30. hell yeah,

she was definitely home-school material. I hated her. Glad she lost.

[Lou_C]

31. Do you remember how she spit in her cupped hands?

It was very weird.