USA! USA! USA!

Sorry for the chanting and the giant foam finger. I just wanted to establish that this is a thoroughly all-American column and provide a smooth transition to a term that brings together two of my top two interests: euphemisms and dogs.  Continue reading...

In the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, competitors are asked to write incredibly bad opening sentences to incredibly bad novels. The 2010 winner for worst opening line features a comparison to "the world's thirstiest gerbil." Read the whole thing, and the rest of the results, here.

At the end of the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee, 14-year-old Anamika Veeramani of North Royalton, Ohio stood alone as the champion. Anamika, who tied for fifth in last year's National Bee, showed poise throughout the competition as one contestant after another fell by the wayside. Though her ride was mostly smooth, the Spelling Bee itself saw some controversy.  Continue reading...

After the first day of competition at the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee, the field of 273 contestants has been winnowed down to 48, who will move on to Friday's semifinal round. They'll all be looking to follow in the path of last year's winner, Kavya Shivashankar. As usual, the preliminary rounds featured some fascinatingly obscure words, from famulus (a close attendant, as to a scholar) to nullipara (a woman who has never given birth to a child).  Continue reading...

The 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee kicks off today, with all eyes focused on the 273 young spellers gathered in Washington D.C. Thanks to national television exposure, the event is sure to spark renewed interest in the fascinating complexities of English spelling. The competitors have been studying hard, and the Visual Thesaurus has been proud to equip them with the ultimate training tool. The Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee, a challenging online game, has shaped up to be one of the best resources available for premier spellers, while also providing addictive fun for the rest of us!  Continue reading...