Dessert Spells Disaster
Chris Buchanan, a 14 year old from Oklahoma was eliminated from competition in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after failing to correctly spell "torrone," a sugary confection coated in crushed almonds. Katherine Close, an eighth-grader at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake, N.J., rattled off "ursprache" to claim the title of America's best speller on prime-time television Thursday night. Katherine is the first girl since 1999 to win the title. The winner goes home with more than $42,000 in cash and prizes.
Chris, an eighth-grader from Broken Arrow's Centennial Middle School, sailed through the competition's first four rounds Wednesday but faltered in Round Five, which started shortly after noon Thursday and was aired on ESPN.
When he heard his first word of the day, Chris looked perplexed. He asked for a definition, which left him shaking his head. Then he asked for the language of origin. Finally, he asked whether the word could be pronounced any other ways.
When the pronouncer said no, Chris rolled his eyes, paused and gave it his best shot: T-I-R-O-N-I. The bell rang, signaling his mistake. Chris leaves Washington with a handful of attractive prizes. He came in 30th, along with 14 other spellers, and will walk away from the bee with $250. In addition, he'll receive a commemorative watch, a Webster's Third New International Dictionary on CD-ROM, plus a few other items, such as a T-shirt, a baseball cap and a duffel bag from Franklin Electronic Publishers.
