Things got tougher after gladiolus

PETER BUFFA

It’s a great time for Americana, and what is greater than that, I ask

you?

Today is day two of the annual Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions

Club Fish Fry at Lions Park. And as if that weren’t enough excitement

for one week, in Washington, D.C., the finest spellers in the land

faced each other down this week -- minds racing, hands sweating -- at

the 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee.

I never miss the results because, as you know, I had a personal

experience with the preliminaries of the National Spelling Bee long

ago, in an auditorium far, far away. It did not end well. I still

can’t talk about it. I was deeply traumatized and carry the emotional

scars to this day, although my therapist says I have shown real

progress since we started our weekly sessions in 1981.

The National Spelling Bee gets a mention every year, but lately

has become a bona fide big deal -- carried live last week on ESPN,

believe it or not. Do you know who started it all? I do.

You can thank the Louisville Courier Journal, which organized the

first National Spelling Bee in 1925 to boost young people’s interest

and aptitude in spelling. The winning word that year was “gladiolus,”

and I might have had a shot in that first competition, which had a

grand total of nine finalists.

But if the scribes in Louisville were worried about spelling in

1925, they would be horrified today. I am constantly stunned, shocked

and occasionally flabbergasted by the amount of misspelling and

incorrect usage you see these days, and I’m not talking about from

the mouths of babes. I’m talking about in the media and in business

correspondence from people who should know much, much better.

Very few of us can keep up with the whiz kids who gather in

Washington every year, but just the fact that there are still those

who try is encouraging. And as I’ve warned you many times, “spell

check” is a cancer across the land. You’d better not be depending on

spell check to tell ewe the rite whey to spell a word.

This year, 272 super-spellers from across the country answered the

bell, but after 19 rounds -- one written and 18 verbal -- of

memory-teasing, brain-torturing words, only one was left standing.

Well, spelling anyway.

The Speller of All Spellers for 2005 is a 13-year-old young man

named Anurag Kashyap. Fortunately, none of the other contestants were

asked to spell his name. He is a local boy, sort of, from Poway,

which is just down the road, sort of.

The word that young Master Kashyap drove deep, deep into the

centerfield seats to win it all was “appoggiatura” -- a musical term

that means, “played lively on a pogo stick.” No, it doesn’t. I made

that up.

Appoggiatura is the Italian name for a “grace note” -- a lightly

played embellishment.

Kashyap, who wants to be a computer engineer, is also a great

lesson in never giving up. He competed in last year’s national bee

and was very disappointed with his performance -- tied for 47th.

Think you have what it takes to be a National Spelling Bee

champion? Think again. Here are the 18 words that only Anurag Kashyap

was able to wrestle to the ground and subdue: cabochon, priscilla,

oligopsony, sphygmomanometer, prosciutto, rideau, pompier, terete,

tristachyous, schefflera, ornithorhynchous, agio, agnolotti, peccavi,

ceraunograph, exsiccosis, hodiernal and appoggiatura.

Yikes. If it weren’t for prosciutto, agnolotti (stuffed pasta),

priscilla (wife of Elvis) and cabochon (outlet mall on the way to

Palm Springs), I’d be back in my seat fast, and I am an excellent

speller.

The competition is definitely getting tougher, according to Paige

Kimble, director of the National Spelling Bee. Round one of the

spelling bee is a 25-word written test, and there have been two

perfect scores in the last three years. This year, there were seven

perfect scores, one of them belonging to Kashyap.

“The words are more difficult than they have ever been,” said

Kimble, who should know, since she was the 1981 National Spelling Bee

champ.

Meanwhile, down at Lions Park, the 2005 Fish Fry is in full-on fun

mode. In addition to the Lions’ trademark fish fry, there are

carnival rides, games, live entertainment, a

Cutest-Baby-Ever-Anywhere contest, the Miss Costa Mesa competition

and more triple-bypass food booths than you can count.

Not only is the annual Fish Fry more fun than your in-laws

deserve, but it raises lots of bucks and does a whole lot of good for

Newport-Mesa community organizations throughout the year. So, whether

you’re trying to impress a date or give the kids something to buzz

about for at least a day, put on your fun face and get down to Lions

Park.

And remember, it’s “i” before “e,” except after “c,” or when

sounded like “a” in neighbor and weigh. I got a million of those.

Wait. Know how to remember the difference between “desert” and

“dessert?” The one you eat has two “s’ ” because you always want two

helpings.

I guess that’s it. Hope I didn’t misspell anything. I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at ptrb4@aol.com.