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Sara Nelson   


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What word can you not spell?
November 4, 2008

Last night, at the fifth annual Spelling Bee sponsored by the fine book-loving organization, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), on whose board I sit, I got to test myself as a speller -- again.  I'm happy to report that I wasn't felled by any foreign words, as I have been in the past -- "hasenpfeffer," anyone?  How about "gnocchi"?  Does anybody even know what a "gi" is? -- and that I actually made it to the final round.  But dang, wouldn't you know it,  then I outsmarted myself and allowed that pesky brainy Brit, HarperCollins' Jonathan Burnham to beat me . . . .

I'm pretty proud of myself, as I was in some pretty illustrious company at the Diane Von Furstenburg studio last night.  Onetime poet laureate Billy Collins wasn't spelling this year (he has  in the past);  nor was James Frey, or the New York Times' Alex Kuczinski (sp?) -- but the Times' David Carr was in the house.  So was novelist Michael Cunningham, who writes beautifully about people who connect but still somehow couldn't spell "commingle."  Novelist Heidi Julavitz and last year's Queen Bee, novelist Meg Wolitzer, spelled their little hearts out , though, and so did the very smart and smartly jodphur(named for  the Indian region of Jadpur, I think)-ed Judith Thurman.  Among several others.    Many rum drinks and many laughs were had by all, including the 100 or so spectators who'd paid $75 per to support this great organization.  

What word did I go out on?  I'm embarrassed to tell you, but Ron Hogan, at Galley Cat, has no such shame. 
So, now I have a question:  does anybody here know what "abseil" means, and if that's the correct spelling?  Jonathan Burnham did -- and for that, I bow to him, our King Bee of the night.  

Posted by Sara Nelson on November 4, 2008 | Comments (6)


November 5, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
vbowlan commented:

rappel-- to descend by doubled length of rope.




November 5, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
Jill commented:

When I was in late grade school, my older brother double-checked with me to make sure he had 'could' spelled correctly (he did). I thought that was weird, but the older I get I know that sometimes it's the words we use all the time that we have to stop and consider. Sometimes they just don't look right.




November 5, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
teri commented:

I have a hard time with restaurant which is why you'll find my characters frequent diners. www.tericoyne.com




November 5, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
Trixie commented:

hors ouvers hor dovores hor doerves hors d'oeuvres is pretty hard. Never can spell it off the top of my head.




November 6, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
Azrael Brown commented:

weird and reciept -- wierd and receipt? Weird receipts. Those two are both a pain.




November 11, 2008
In response to: What word can you not spell?
Elizabeth commented:

Um, isn't it "jodhpurs"? Oh, good, it is -- I just checked. Wonder if Obama can spell.





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