It was an abysmal occurrence that required some paraphernalia like a dictionary.
Our captain, and even the team curmudgeon, showed chutzpah despite our defeat. Yes, it was handled with as much eloquence as possible.
Hopefully our relegation to second place was an anomaly, one of those rare events like a leprechaun sighting in Czechoslovakia.
But the reminiscence of it all will stay with us forever.
We hope for a reconnaissance as we explore our dictionaries to annihilate the competition next year. And we hope to have a more copacetic experience, as we pay allegiance to the written word and not face the guillotine once again.
For those of you who were not at the annual Adult Spelling Bee Challenge Wednesday morning at the Vernon Lodge, those first few sentences contained 15 words which we, The Morning Star Spelling Starz, were required to spell along with 17 other teams.
All for a great cause in support of Junction Literacy and Youth Centre, the annual event had grown men and women dressed in all kinds of crazy costumes (Hippies!, Busy Bees! Graduates!) trying to outdo each other with their spelling proficiency.
This year’s words were ones we actually recognized, and some of them were words that I have used before in my stories.
But we were under pressure here, so that’s my excuse for getting two of them wrong. And there was no spell check, Oxford dictionary, Google, Canadian Press Caps and Spelling book to refer to, all of which are bibles to today’s journalist.
OK, enough excuses.
I am happy to report that we did spell 13 words right, including anomaly —meaning a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form. (It’s no wonder since I cover the arts, and artists are all about deviation from the norm!)
The word that stumped us was reconnaissance, and I am loathe to report that my team, including myself, went with one s.
As someone who grew up in Quebec, with French as a second language, there’s a swear word that I will not repeat here, but it begins with an m.
The other word that got us? Occurrence. Yes, we gave our heads a long, hard shake over that one. Those kids from the film Spellbound would have never spelled that one wrong. Right?!
Alas, with those misspelled words The Spelling Starz (that z is intentional!) were once again relegated to the bridesmaid position, tying with three other teams. As the second place finishers last year, we once more fell to last year’s victors, the Okanagan College Eggheads: Darn you, educators!
This is all in jest, of course, and we thank our sympathetic friend, Betty Selin of SunFM, for her immense support.
The Junction’s Spelling Bee is not about the rivalry between the smartest and studied. Well, maybe a little. What is most rewarding is to hear of the good work the Junction Literacy and Youth Centre does for our community.
To list all their accomplishments would take many more words, but to sum up, they are an essential service that provides important life skills to not only underprivileged young people, but to the community as a whole.
Just ask the new parents who have received their first baby books from the Junction, or the senior who has received much joy from reading to his/her younger counterpart.
The Junction understands that if it wasn’t for words, we’d all be lost.
So to them, I will study my Oxford, and work for a much better occurrence next year.
Kristin Froneman is the entertainment editor for The Morning Star
