Thursday, June 02, 2005

Spell Checker

Here are the words from Round 7 of the Scripps Spelling Bee, currently being broadcast LIVE on ESPN:

fustian
enthymeme
rideau
devastavit
verticil
monogoneutic
keratinophilic
tombolo
loggia
colophon
solenoglyph
rucervine
coelostat
inion
sommelier
badigeon
vorago
cheiloplasty
griffonage
ergatogyne
chevelure
semelfactive
phalacrosis
mephitis
salsuginous
bricolage
canzonettas


I've decided that I no longer want to be the bell-dinging signifier of correctly spelled words. I want to be the super-creative sentence maker. So when a contestant asks, "Can I have it in a sentence, please?" Istead of saying something like:

Fustian. "I highly doubt you will be able to spell fustian."

I would say something like

Fustian. Jeff Probst said, "The final immunity challenge was close, but after checking the tapes, I must declare that Tom was Fustian."

Other possibilities include:

Rideau. "Jacque Pierre loved to tell a joke or funny rideau."

Verticil. "If, after taking Viagra, you experience more than four hours of verticil, see your doctor immediately."

Colophon. "After a large dinner of baked beans, the sheets danced the night away to the music of the colophon."

Salsuginous. "After the Latin Dance marathon, her legs felt absolutely salsuginous.

Bricolage. "She was an enormous woman whose skimpy top did nothing to cover her overflowing bricolage."




Daily Haiku -- Thursday Thinkers
Today's Thinker: If diamonds are a girl's best friend, what is yours?

To choose one best friend
Is to pluck a single star,
changing the heavens.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are all actual words? Are you sure they don't have someone hanging out backstage with a bag of Scrabble tiles making them up? (If they do, that's the job I want.)

Anonymous said...

As a graphic designer with a degree in architecture, I actually know two of those words! (loggia & colophon). But that 7.4% of correctness hasn't gotten me far - I've never used either of those words in a professional context (or any context, for that matter).

nlk said...

I'm thisclose to a master's degree in English, and this just makes me feel stoopid.

Especially because the ones spelling them are kids.

Oy vey.

bozoette said...

I coulda got about a half-dozen, but what made me laugh out loud was your sentence with sals-whatever.