AP: Spelling Bee protesters

[Victor Steinbok]

I can think of at least one person kicking himself now for missing an
opportunity.

VS-)

http://bit.ly/cvas8d

> In DC, even the Spelling Bee draws protesters
>
> By LAUREN SAUSSER (AP) – 2 hours ago
>
> WASHINGTON — The nation's capital always draws its share of
> protesters, picketing for causes ranging from health care reform to
> immigration policy.
>
> But spelling bee protesters? They're out here, too.
>
> Four peaceful protesters, some dressed in full-length black and yellow
> bee costumes, represented the American Literacy Council and the
> London-based Spelling Society and stood outside the Grand Hyatt on
> Thursday, where the Scripps National Spelling Bee is being held. Their
> message was short: Simplify the way we spell words.
>
> Roberta Mahoney, 81, a former Fairfax County, Va. elementary school
> principal, said the current language obstructs 40 percent of the
> population from learning how to read, write and spell.
>
> "Our alphabet has 425-plus ways of putting words together in illogical
> ways," Mahoney said.
>
> The protesting cohort distributed pins to willing passers-by with
> their logo, "Enuf is enuf. Enough is too much."
>
> According to literature distributed by the group, it makes more sense
> for "fruit" to be spelled as "froot," "slow" should be "slo," and
> "heifer" — a word spelled correctly during the first oral round of the
> bee Thursday by Texas competitor Ramesh Ghanta — should be "hefer."
>
> Meanwhile, inside the hotel's Independence Ballroom, 273 spellers
> celebrated the complexity of the language in all its glory, correctly
> spelling words like zaibatsu, vibrissae and biauriculate.
>
> While the protesters could make headway with cell phone texters who
> routinely swap "u" for "you" and "gr8" for "great," their message may
> be a harder sell for the Scripps crowd.
>
> Mahoney had trouble gaining traction with at least one bee attendee.
> New Mexico resident Matthew Evans, 15, a former speller whose sister
> is participating in the bee this year, reasoned with her that if
> English spellings were changed, spelling bees would cease to exist.
>
> "If a dictionary lists 'enough' as 'enuf,' the spelling bee goes by
> the dictionary, therefore all the spelling words are easier to spell,
> so the spelling bee is gone," Evans said.
>
> "Well," Mahoney replied, "they could pick their own dictionary."
>
> ___
>
> Online: http://www.americanliteracy.com
>
> http://www.spellingsociety.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org