How long before the whole "Spelling Bee" thing catches on here in Blighty? Read Friedrich Blowhard on a documentary about this fascinating and also rather scary phenomenon.
It will catch on. Someone will want to make it happen, and although many others will be tremendously bothered, none of them will be sufficiently bothered to stop it. It's only a matter of time. This movie sounds like it could light the blue touch paper.
At which point British geek children will be allowed to compete ferociously with one another on national TV, but British sportsjock children will only be allowed to participate in ridiculous everybody-wins events. (And the day they legalise marijuana will also be the day that tobacco is finally totally illegalised.)
Spelling Bees in the U.S. date back to pioneer days (think "Little House on the Prarie") and were a staple of small town life in days prior to the invasion of 24/7 electronic media. They still have grassroots popularity in many areas. It is interesting to note that home-schooled kids seem to win frequently. Of course any children's activity -- from spelling bees to little league baseball -- can have all its natural innocence destroyed when adults start pumping it up into regional and then national official competitions.
Uh, that's "Little House on the Prairie" -- obviously I was never competive in spelling bees. *grin*
The National Spelling Bee started today (May 28). "Xysti" was one of the words that was spelled correctly.
I'm surprised you Brits don't have spelling bees. Maybe it's because you misspell "labour" and "gaol."
