That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to read the recap of tonight’s competition here.
Jairam Hathwar is not the first of his family to taste National Spelling Bee glory. His brother Sriram finished sixth in 2008, 2009 and 2011, third in 2013 and finished his career with a co-championship in 2014. But history shows that’s not all that rare in this space.
Twenty-nine of this year’s 285 contestants have relatives who have participated in a combined 67 bees. For instance Cooper Komatsu, who made it to tonight’s championship finals, is the grandson of Robert Rosenberg, who competed in 1955. Mira Dedhia’s mother Lekshmi Nair competed in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Dhiyana Mishra’s sister Stuti finished second in 2012, while Srinath Mahankali’s brother Arvind won it all in 2013.
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When Sriram J Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe shared the title in 2014, it was the first time the Scripps National Spelling Bee had co-champions since 1962. Then Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam fought to a memorable stalemate last year, prompting officials to install rule changes – a longer championship round with more difficult words – in an effort to ensure singular champions moving forward. So much for that.
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Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga are co-champions!
The moment of truth is here. First it’s Jairam, who is given Feldenkrais, the name of a somatic educational system. He nails it and rasies his arms in celebration, knowing he will be a champion regardless. Then Nihar is given gesellschaft, a world for social relations based on impersonal ties, as duty to a society or organization. And he rattles it off without hesitation! Co-champions at the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the third straight year!
There’s only one round to go and one word left for each contestant. That means Nihar and Jairam will be declared co-champions if both spell their words correctly or if both spell them incorrectly.
They both spell their next words correctly. Jairam nails zindiq, Nihar banks euchologion. And here’s where it gets interesting.
Nihar Janga misses championship-winning word (ayacahuite); Jairam Hathwar re-enters competition
Nihar spells the word tetradrachm incorrectly. Jairam is back in!
ELIMINATED (tentatively): Jairam Hathwar (Mischsprache), one speller left
Jairam misses! He omits the silent ‘e’ from Mischsprache and Nihar will have another chance to close the show.
Jairam spells juamave and Nihar spells Groenendael and both are correct. We’re into Championship Round 22.
Another trio of perfect rounds. Jairam nails pavonazzetto, kjeldahl and guignolet, while Nihar delivers on phulkari, haab and Hohenzollern. This is preposterous.
Had they gone this far under last year’s rules, Jairam and Nihar would have already been co-champions. Instead, due to the newly installed rule changes, they’re still going strong. Hathwar spells myiasis and Stymphalian correctly, while Janga nails parinari and ynambu.
Three more perfect rounds. Jairam spells doab, lygaeid and krausen correctly, while Nihar nails promyshlennik, écorché and villancico. Not so much as a blink from these two.
Nihar Janga misses championship-winning word (ayacahuite); Jairam Hathwar re-enters competition
Nihar Janga is up with glory within reach. The first word is rafraîchissoir, a table of the 18th century having a cooler for bottles and shelves for plates, and he nails it. That leaves him one correctly spelled word away from the championship. That word is ayacahuite ... and he bottles it! What drama! Jairam has been gifted new life and he’s back in the game! It’s Nihar’s first miss of any kind throughout the competition and at the world possible time.
ELIMINATED (tentatively): Jairam Hathwar (drahthaar), one speller left
Nihar Janga is within touching distance of the title after Jairam misspells drahthaar. You could see Nihar shaking his head in the background the moment Jairam made his mistake. Now Nihar needs to spell his word for the round followed by a championship word to take the belt.
Jairum is up. The word is whau, a New Zealand tree of the family Tiliaceae. Nails it. Nijar matches it with a spelling of gerrhosaurid.
They’re really moving now. Jairam nails chremslach, while Nihar wows the crowd with an accurate spelling of uintjie.
Another perfect round. Jairam correctly spells gyttja, while Nihar nails taoiseach.
They should just make them spell made up words.
— Joe Heim (@JoeHeim) May 27, 2016
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Two more correct for Jairam: fothergilla and keurboom. Two more correct for Nihar: ergataner and biniou. Completely awesome.
Jairam steps up. His word is harmattan, a word for adry dust-laden wind in Africa. Easy enough. Then Nihir follows it up with appetitost.
Two more perfect rounds for Jairam and Nihar. The former nailed ripieno then lerot, while the latter shines on melilot and giallolino.
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Now it’s Nihar Janga. He spells cypraeiform correctly (in roughly 20 seconds) and it’s still a two-horse race.
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Jairam Hathwar back up again. His word is achalasia, the failure of a ring of muscle to relax. Slight work for the New Yorker, who nails it.
Jairam Hathwar steps up. His word is geländesprung, which is a jump, usually over an obstacle, in which one plants both poles in the snow in advance of the skis, bends close to the ground, and propels oneself chiefly by the use of the poles. Nails it. But Nihar Janga follows with a correct spelling of schepen, a type of municipal officer in Holland. On to another round.
ELIMINATED: Snehaa Ganesh Kumar (usucapion), two spellers left
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar steps forward to begin Round 16. The word is usucapion, a mode of acquiring title to property by uninterrupted possession of it for a definite period (as one year for movables or two for immovables) under a title acquired in good faith. A tricky one. She asks for all the information. Then asks for all of the information again. Time running low. “U-S” she begins ... then follows with an ‘i’ instead of the ‘u’ that was necessary. The end is near!
Jairam Hathwar is up. He correctly spells launeddas, a Sardinian triple clarinet, because of course. Nihar Janga follows it with a correct spelling of berceuse and Round 15 is done and dusted.
ELIMINATED: Sylvie Lamontagne (chaoborine), three spellers left
Now it’s Sylvie Lamontagne’s turn. She lets out a deep breath when she gets to the mic. Her word is chaoborine. Tough one! She spells in her routine burst-like fashion but omits the crucial ‘i’ and hears the dreaded bell. Only three left!
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar begins the next round. Her task is nasaump, an Algonquin word meaning kernels of hulled corn. Nails it.
Now it’s Nihar Janga’s turn. Quillon is the word, the crossguard on a sword. Seems like he doesn’t know it. But he does! Raises his arm to the sky in celebration and practically skips back to his seat.
Jairam Hathwar is next. His word is Collyridian, one of a heretical sect in the 4th and 5th centuries chiefly in Arabia that employed women as priestesses to offer sacrifices in the form of rolls of bread to the Virgin Mary. Starts to spell, then asks to start over. Uh-oh. Nerves perhaps? Begins to spell it again and powers through. No bell! He lives to fight another round.
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar is up. Her word is aplustre, the curved ornamented stern of an ancient Greek or Roman ship. No problem for the 13-year-old from California. Sylvie Lamontagne matches her with a correct spelling of ekka, a light two-wheeled, one-horse, one-passenger carriage used in India.
Jairam Hathwar is next. His word is caracal, a type of cat found in Africa and Asia, and he nails it. Nihar Janga follows with a correct spelling of bailliage and it’s another perfect round in the books.
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Snehaa Ganesh Kumar begins Round 13. The word is poitrel, a medieval often richly decorated piece of armor used to protect the breast of a horse. No problem for the eighth-grader. Clinical. Sylvie Lamontagne follows with a correct spelling of kakiemon, a type of Japanese porcelain.
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Nihar Janga is up. His word is gisant – a recumbent effigy on a tomb depicting a prominent deceased person in the process of dying or as a corpse – and he spells it quickly. The four remaining contestants simply breezed through that round, as if to say, “Challenge us!”
Jairam Hathwar rises and walks to the mic. His word is epergne, an ornamental centerpiece for a dining table, typically used for holding fruit or flowers. Automatic. Seems like these four could go all night.
Sylvie Lamontagne is next. Her word is shubunkin, a goldfish of an ornamental variety, having black spots, red patches, and long fins and tail. She knows it and wastes no time, deliberately spelling it out with more than a minute to spare.
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar takes the mic to start Round 12. Her word is prochoos, a tall slender ancient Greek jug used especially to hold water for washing hands.
P-R-O-C-H-O-O-S
Confident. Composed. The poise of a veteran.
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Nihar Janga rises to close out Round 11. His word is iiwi, a Hawaiian honeycreeper with a long, down-curved bill and mainly bright red plumage. This one could be hard. Could be, but not for Janga. On to Round 12.
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ELIMINATED: Smrithi Upadhyayula (theriaca), four spellers left
Smrithi Upadhyayula is up. Her word is theriaca, an antidote to poison. Ooh, this is a tough one. She appears to have no idea. And she misses, adding on an unnecessary silent ‘P’ at the start. Four more left.
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Now it’s Jairam. Calamistrum is his word. A piece of cake.
Sylvie Lamontagne is next. Her word is ptyalism, defined as an excessive production of saliva. No problem for the Colorado native.
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar, Sylvie Lamontagne, Jairam Hathwar, Smrithi Upadhyayula and Nihar Janga are the five still in play for the title. It’s Kumar to go first in Round 11. Her word is rhinolophid. She doesn’t seem to know it, but if it was a guess it’s a good one because she’s advanced.
Smrithi Upadhyayula steps up. Her word is chalazion, a cyst in the eyelid. She needs only 38 seconds to spell it out correctly. Then Nihar Janga is given hypozeuxis, a rhetorical term for an expression or sentence where every clause has its own independent subject and predicate. And just like that Round 11 is in the history books.
Jairam Hathwar is next. He’s served up amanitin. He asks for the pronouncer to repeat it several times, then for the definition: a highly toxic cyclic peptide produced by the death cap that selectively inhibits mammalian RNA polymerase. He moves to spell and calmly rattles it off correctly.
Thirteen-year-old bundle of nerves Sylvie Lamontagne is up next. She’s given the word Venetic, an ancient language of NE Italy, usually regarded as belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European family. She starts with a ‘V’, appears to be distracted, asks to start over, then promptly rattles off the letters correctly.
ELIMINATED: Rutvik Gandhasri (betony), five spellers left
We’re off and running in Round 11. Snehaa Ganesh Kumar advances by spelling soogee, a Japanese-derived word meaning a clean rope yarns used to wash with. But moments later Rutvik Gandhasri falters on betony and we’re down to our final five spellers.
Jairam Hathwar and Smrithi Upadhyayula nail their words. Hathwar correctly spells ptyxis, a word for the way in which an individual leaf is folded in the bud. Upadhyayula delivers on levirate, a custom of the ancient Hebrews and other peoples by which a man may be obliged to marry his brother’s widow. Moments later Nihar Janga wastes little time on lovat to wrap up Round 10. Six spellers still standing.
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Blair Reeve checks in via email to offer up an interesting fact. We love facts here. They are our stock-in-trade.
Interesting fact - in your explanation of the origin of ‘bee’ in spelling bee, you mention it may have come from the word “bene” closely related to the word ‘boon’.
In Japanese, a bee goes “boon boon” as opposed to the English “buzz buzz.”
Although in Japanese it actually goes ブーん ブーん。
which is boon boon in katakana.
AMAZING!
ELIMINATED: Mitchell Robson (Wehrmacht), six spellers left
Mitchell Robson is next. He’s given the German word Wehrmacht, a word for the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1946. But he opens with a ‘V’ instead of a ‘W’! Oh dear! He was so concerned with the second half of the word that he made the relatively careless error that sinks his chances. The bell sounds and he walks off stage after thanking his friend Amber and his grandmother.
ELIMINATED: Sreeniketh Vogoti (palagonite), seven spellers left
Now it’s Sreeniketh Vogoti’s turn. The word is palagonite, a basaltic glass that is more or less altered and devitrified and that occurs with volcanic ash in the form of a basaltic tuff. Ninety seconds pass before he even begins an attempt. He falters, placing an ‘e’ where the first ‘a’ should have gone. “I’d like to thank my friends, family and my teachers,” he says with a smile before exiting stage left.
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Sylvie Lamontagne is back up. Her word is panachure, a French-derived word meaning mottling. She looks challenged. “P-A-N” she starts deliberately, taking a long pause before blurting out the last six letters nearly on top of one another. Boom.
Snehaa Ganesh Kumar and Rutvik Gandhasri spell their words in drama-free fashion. Kumar nails chubasco, which is a severe squall of rain. Gandhasri shines on guyot, a flat-topped submarine mountain, and draws the attention of a former bee champion.
"Ice in his veins." --Sameer, 2008 champion, at my right.
— Peter Sokolowski (@PeterSokolowski) May 27, 2016
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ELIMINATED: Cooper Komatsu (illicium), eight spellers left
Cooper Komatsu is back to the mic to kick off Round 10. The word is illicium, a Latin word meaning first spine of the dorsal fin. He opens his mouth to spell and out comes an ‘e’ ... oh dear! He spells the rest of the word correctly, but the incorrect opening letter seals his fate. And then there were eight.
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The last speller of the round is Nihar Janga. He’s given galego, a Wolof word meaning bush baby. Obscure etymology, that. Might this trip him up? Absolutely not. Janga, who says he likes movies that motivate him to become “a beneficially influential citizen”, nails the spelling to close the door on Round 9.
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Next up is Smrithi Upadhyayula. Her word is epistaxis, a word for bleeding from the nose, and she wastes little time with it. Nails the correct spelling with more than a minute to spare.
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Now it’s Jairam Hathwar’s turn. Spelling runs in the Hathwar family: his brother Sriram competed in five National Spelling Bees, tying for the title in 2014. His word is chaussure, a word for footgear, and he calmly banks it.
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It’s Mitchell Robson’s turn. The Massachusetts native and hip-hop fan steps up and calmly fields the word esquisse, a first usually rough sketch. He immediately identifies it as French and has little trouble spelling it out.
ELIMINATED: Jashun Paluru (vasopressin), nine spellers left
West Lafayette’s finest Jashun Paluru steps forward. At 11, he’s the youngest remaining speller in the field. He’s given the word vasopressin, a pituitary hormone that acts to promote the retention of water by the kidneys and increase blood pressure.
V-A-S-O-P-R-E-S-I-N
Alas! He drops an ‘S’ and hears the dreaded bell. The first elimination of the night. And then there were nine.
Now it’s Sreeniketh Vogoti. He’s given the word moshav, a Hebrew word for a cooperative community of farmers. He asks all his allotted question then deliberately spells out the six letters. Correctly. Still perfect halfway through the round.
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After a break for commercial Sylvie Lamontagne steps to the mic. Her word is comitatus, a body of wellborn men attached to a king or chieftain by the duty of military service. She seems to know it immediately but takes her time, writing it out on her hand in her trademark style. Nails it.
Now it’s Rutvik Gandhasri’s turn. His word is hirundine, an adjective meaning of, relating to, or resembling the swallow. He is given two alternate pronunciations upon request, which clears up any confusion, setting up an easy finish. On to the next one.
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Next up is Snehaa Ganesh Kumar, a repeat finalist who is looking to build off last year’s fourth-place finish. Her word is pneumatomachy, which is a denial of the Holy Spirit. She starts, then asks to start over, then nails it with plenty of time to spare as her mom proudly looks on from the gallery.
The ESPN telecast is underway and we’re set to begin. And they’re off! First up is Cooper Komatsu, an eighth-grader at Culver City Middle School where he is a member of the cross country and robotics teams. The word is myoclonus, which is the irregular involuntary contraction of a muscle usually resulting from functional disorder of controlling motor neurons. And he looks stumped. Oh dear, time is running short. He starts, then stops, then rushes to the finish as the two-minute clock nearly runs out – and he nails it! Fair play!
If you’re interested in playing along at home, ESPN has you covered. The network is once again offering a special Play-Along telecast of tonight’s bee, which can be accessed through the WatchESPN app. Via ESPN PR:
Throughout the competition, ESPN3 on WatchESPN will feature a second-screen, multiple-choice Play-Along version, presented by Sony Pictures and Rovio Animation’s The Angry Birds Movie, that gives fans a one-in-four chance to pick the correct spelling of the given word, allowing fans to try their hand at competing along with the spellers. This year’s Play-Along version has been enhanced, adding a fourth multiple choice answer to create a more integrated and immersive experience. It will still feature informational boxes highlighting the word’s etymology, definition and part of speech, as well as live tweets, the speller’s bio and more.
Five minutes until ESPN’s telecast begins. Meanwhile, the finalists enjoy a moment of levity backstage.
The Finalists ready to go on stage! #spellingbee #spellfie pic.twitter.com/n8Gz2MSWS4
— NationalSpellingBee (@ScrippsBee) May 26, 2016
Tom from Brooklyn asks: “Why do they call it a bee? What is the origin of the term?” And while I don’t immediately have an answer, it appears the National Spelling Bee website does.
The word bee, as used in spelling bee, is one of those language puzzles that has never been satisfactorily accounted for. A fairly old and widely-used word, it refers to a community social gathering at which friends and neighbors join together in a single activity (sewing, quilting, barn raising, etc.) usually to help one person or family.
The earliest known example in print is a spinning bee, in 1769. Other early occurrences arehusking bee (1816), apple bee (1827), and logging bee (1836). Spelling bee is apparently an American term. It first appeared in print in 1875, but it seems certain that the word was used orally for several years before that.
Those who used the word, including most early students of language, assumed that it was the same word as referred to the insect. They thought that this particular meaning had probably been inspired by the obvious similarity between these human gatherings and the industrious, social nature of a beehive. But in recent years scholars have rejected this explanation, suggesting instead that this bee is a completely different word.
One possibility is that it comes from the Middle English word bene, which means “a prayer” or “a favor” (and is related to the more familiar word boon). In England, a dialect form of this word, been or bean, referred to “voluntary help given by neighbors toward the accomplishment of a particular task.” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary).
Bee may simply be a shortened form of been, but no one is entirely certain.
And there it is!
There’s plenty at stake for tonight’s finalists. The champion will receive: a $40,000 cash prize and the Scripps National Spelling Bee trophy (from Scripps); $2,500 for books and Kindle eBooks (from first-year sponsor Amazon); a $2,500 US savings bond and a complete reference library (from Merriam-Webster); $1,100 of reference works including the Britannica Global Edition, 1768 Encyclopædia Britannica Replica Set Deluxe Edition, and 3-year membership to Britannica Online Premium (from Encyclopædia Britannica).
The runner-up will receive $30,000, with cash prizes for third ($20,000), fourth ($10,000), fifth ($5,000) and sixth places ($2,500). The seventh- through 10th-place finishers will go home with a cool $2,000.
Incredibly, this marks the 89th year of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The first was held in 1925 with just nine contestants, with Kentucky’s Frank Neuhauser taking home the title by spelling gladiolus correctly.
Ever wonder how you’d match up against the champions of the past. Here’s your chance. Take our quiz to see if you can spell a sampling of the championship-winning words from previous bees.
If a couple of the finalists’ names ring familiar, that’s because two of them are back in the championship round for the second straight year. Sylvie Lamontagne, 13, tied for ninth place in last year’s event after misspelling cerastes, a common desert-dwelling viper of Egypt and Asia Minor distinguished by a horn-like scale resembling a spike above each eye. Snehaa Ganesh Kumar, 13, went one round further and tied for fourth after faltering on oflag, a German prison camp for officers.
A look at tonight's finalists
Welcome to tonight’s championship finals of the 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. The original field of 285 contestants was narrowed down to 45 during the preliminary rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday, then further trimmed to 10 during today’s rigorous day session.
These survivors represent the best of the more than 11m students, ranging in age from six to 15, who participated in this year’s competition at one level or another. Here’s who they are.
Speller No13, Cooper Komatsu (Results)
Sponsor: Los Angeles Spelling Bee Collaborative, Los Angeles, California
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Culver City Middle School
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
Speller No16, Snehaa Ganesh Kumar (Results)
Sponsor: The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Folsom Middle School
Hometown: Folsom, California
Speller No20, Rutvik Gandhasri (Results)
Sponsor: KPIX-TV & KCBS Radio AM & FM, San Francisco, California
Age 12, 7th grade
School: Chaboya Middle School
Hometown: San Jose, California
Speller No30, Sylvie Lamontagne (Results)
Sponsor: The Denver Post, Denver, Colorado
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Creighton Middle School
Hometown: Lakewood, Colorado
Speller No38, Sreeniketh Vogoti (Results)
Sponsor: The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida
Age 13, 7th grade
School: Fruit Cove Middle School
Hometown: Saint Johns, Florida
Speller No74, Jashun Paluru (Results)
Sponsor: Administrator Assistance, Brookston, Indiana
Age 11, 6th grade
School: Battle Ground Middle School
Hometown: West Lafayette, Indiana
Speller No114, Mitchell Robson (Results)
Sponsor: The Daily Item, Lynn, Massachusetts
Age 14, 8th grade
School: St. John’s Preparatory School
Hometown: Marblehead, Massachusetts
Speller No152, Jairam Hathwar (Results)
Sponsor: Corning Rotary Club, Corning, New York
Age 13, 7th grade
School: The Alternative School for Math and Science
Hometown: Painted Post, New York
Speller No229, Smrithi Upadhyayula (Results)
Sponsor: The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, Texas
Age 13, 8th grade
School: Coppell Middle School West
Hometown: Coppell, Texas
Speller No232, Nihar Janga (Results)
Sponsor: Houston Public Media, Houston, Texas
Age 11, 5th grade
School: River Ridge Elementary School
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s a recap of today’s grueling day session, which saw the field narrowed from 45 to the 10 who will compete in tonight’s nationally televised championship finals.
Tejas Muthusamy knew he was in trouble.
The finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee were already off to an agonizing start Thursday, with 20 out of 40 spellers hearing the dreaded bell before Tejas stepped to the microphone. But he was supposed to be OK. The 13-year-old from Glen Allen, Virginia, made the top 10 the past two years.
His word was “salele,” a Samoan-derived word for a small, dusky silver fish. He asked all the questions he could. It was time to spell. But he still didn’t know.
“Could you repeat the word five times?” Tejas asked pronouncer Jacques Bailly.
He asked to hear the definition again. He sighed, smoothed his shirt and looked at the floor. He pretended to write the word on his hand. The onstage lights turned red, signaling that he had 30 seconds left.
He missed it by one letter, going with “solele.” He left the stage to a standing ovation.
The bee staff promised that this year would be tougher than ever. A second written spelling and vocabulary test, widely loathed by spellers, was eliminated. But the bee still needed to cut the field from 45 to 10 before the primetime finale, which is broadcast on ESPN.
As a result, spellers were hit with words that were harder to figure out. They got biological terms and words derived from obscure languages. With “salele,” Tejas had no roots, alternate pronunciations or other tricks of the champion speller’s trade to fall back on. He was one of 24 spellers who missed their first word.
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