Fainting "spell"?

Doctor Q

Doctor Q

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Spelling bee contestant lost for words

In a new definition of a fainting spell, the runner-up in the National Spelling Bee in Washington apparently fainted when asked to spell "alopecoid" in the contest eventually won by a 14-year-old Indiana boy.

Akshay Buddiga, 13, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, recovered enough to spell the word correctly and continued into the championship round, but he stood out from the crowd by spelling from a seated position, unlike the other competitors, who remained standing as they spelled.

Akshay lost on the word "schwarmerei," a German term that means adulation.

He got plenty of that and a standing ovation from the hundreds of defeated spellers, their families, friends and teachers who watched the three-day competition.

The champion was David Tidmarsh, whose final winning word was "autochthonous," meaning Indigenous.
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I saw this story on the TV news too. There were 265 kids in the competition, spelling words like sumpsimus, sophrosyne, and serpiginous, and every one of the kids astounds me. They must really study hard, including studying root words too, to do so well. Hip hip hooray for all of them!
 
Doctor Q said:
Spelling bee contestant lost for words


I saw this story on the TV news too. There were 265 kids in the competition, spelling words like sumpsimus, sophrosyne, and serpiginous, and every one of the kids astounds me. They must really study hard, including studying root words too, to do so well. Hip hip hooray for all of them!
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Yeah, everytime I read something about one of these kids it amazes me. I have the vocabulary of a paperclip, and I can only imagine how much dedication these kids have to achieve this level of success.

- reaper
 
There was a movie called "Spellbound" (a real documentary I think?) about the US spelling bee that I saw last year. My wife dragged me along to see it. I didn't want to go, but ended up really enjoying it. It is quite a funny movie in places and the whole spelling bee thing amazed me. I don't think we have anything quite like it in the UK.

view a trailor here


EDIT: sorry, should have read the link first. The movie is mentioned in the article. doh!
 
I guess it's too bad that the winner, David Tidmarsh, got overshadowed by the kid who fainted, Akshay Buddiga. They don't even mention David's name until the 5th paragraph. But, as they say, "man bites dog" is news and "dog bites man" isn't news because the unexpected makes the most interesting news story.
 
Doctor Q said:
I guess it's too bad that the winner, David Tidmarsh, got overshadowed by the kid who fainted, Akshay Buddiga. They don't even mention David's name until the 5th paragraph. But, as they say, "man bites dog" is news and "dog bites man" isn't news because the unexpected makes the most interesting news story.
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Unexpected? I'm amazed it doesn't happen every year. Take a bunch of 12 year olds, put them on stage in front of a crowd, dump parental expectations into them, tell them a year of studying the dictionary rides on that moment... how can they not faint? The winner had to hide behind his placard because of the stress as well.

Not to be too down on the event. The crowd is supportive, the kids usually want to do it. But take quiet introverts and set up the competition this way, weird things are going to happen.
 
I think that all of them have obtained and succeeded in an awesome challenge. Congratulations to all of them. Just glad that David is OK. All that pressure is certainly a lead up to a fainting spell in a child that is susceptible.
 
I did the spelling bee thing, way back in the 6th-8th grades. Now, I never made it out of the county spelling bee, but the pressure is the same. The "ding" of the judges' bell still gives me shudders, lol.

I watched the final couple rounds on ESPN2 last night...and I was surprised David didn't meet the same fate with the fainting as Akshay did. But his nevers were endearing, in a way - I was really pulling for him and was elated when he got to the end of "autochthonous" and knew he had it nailed. I wish him the best of luck, he deserves it :)
 
I watched some of the broadcast too. It was the same kind of tension I feel when watching an Olympic diver in those moments before they step forward into their jump off the high board. Perfectly quiet, all eyes on them, and a real test of their nerve as well as talent. But the spelling bee was mental instead of physical. At least I hope the kids weren't taking steroids to get their brains pumped up! :eek:
 
nspeds said:
Why should kids be made to spell German words?
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It was an English word, just an obscure one with a German root. Besides, English is mostly a Germanic language anyways.
 
I watched more of the replay of Round 6 last night. Some of the kids smiled after they got a word right or had an "aw, shucks" look after they got one wrong. Those kids didn't seem to be overly pressured and were more like kids playing sports. But a few seemed way too serious, like programmed spelling-robots with no expressions on their faces. I feel sorry for those kids.

Many kids asked for the derivation of their spelling word, which helped them differentiate which vowel combinations were most likely, particularly 'i' vs 'y' and the endings of words. That's where the studying pays off.

The kids aren't allowed a pencil, but they are allowed to air-write the word, and many did that to "see" how the word looked or to help them recite it properly.
 
My girlfriend and I were watching, what was actually a re-run of the spelling bee (however did not know this at the time), and were horrified when the poor kid fainted. It appeared, initially, nobody did much to help him. What an unbelievable turnaround when he got up and nailed the spelling on that word. I think I was more stunned by this kid passing out then any other "on-field" injury I viewed pseudo-live, save maybe Mike Utley having his back broken. These kids are under a tremendous amount of pressure and who knows what they have to endure off-camera. We've all heard stories of young kids being pushed by their parents in sports or beauty pageants... I would not be surprised if these kids spent more time spelling then playing with friends. In any case, hats off to them all.
 
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