Just before Christmas, I met this investment banker type at the Glass. He was cute and interesting and I would later find him to be a very good kisser. But after my friend left to play her gig and we were sitting alone at the bar he said to me, "You're a nerd, aren't you? I'll bet you're into Scrabble and spelling bees, right?" And it's totally true. In my early twenties I probably would not have been so quick to embrace my inner nerd and denied such accusations (though that was hard to do in 1997 while insisting that all dorm televisions be turned to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee as I watched girl hero Rebecca Sealfon kick ass on euonym). I digress.
In an ongoing effort to not only embrace, but validate my inner nerd I came across the following. Adult spelling bees have been popular in other cities for quite some time, but now I've found the Accompanied Library Society. In truth, I'm probably not cool enough for membership. And if something of the like was started here, I'd probably roll my eyes and mock it, but still I find the idea intriguing. And the fact that rap mogul Damon Dash is a member all the moreso.
In the fourth grade, I was attending Catholic school in St. Albans. I was first runner up and had that smarty-pants sixth grader gotten sick I would've surely found spelling glory. As it were my parents moved us to public school that next year (a bitter subject to this day as I loved my private school years -- it was my sister that couldn't hang)and my spelling dreams were dashed by b-r-o-c-c-o-l-i. And while I like it in my stir-fry, please don't ask me to spell it. It still makes me a little nervous.
Update: I almost forgot. I have a grad school friend who fell in love over a game of Scrabble. If I didn't like them so much, I'd be incredibly jealous.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Nerd Life
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16 comments:
Adult spelling bees? Freaking hilarious! I don't want to offend anyone, but at one time I was the best speller in WV. I beat everyone in my school but I could never make it to the county championship. Do you want to know why? Because I didn't like standing up. Back then you had to stand up until you misspelled a word and then you had to sit down. My lazy ass would get to the county chamionship and intentionally misspell a word just so I could sit down. One time I misspelled telephone. My mom was pissed! Anyhow sorry to ramble but your post definitley took me bakc...
I still lament my last chance at spelling glory. I was in the seventh grade and had a crush on a ninth grader named Jason. He spoke to me once and I hypervenilated (I wish that was an exaggeration). He had English in the class in which the bee was to be held and I knew that I couldn't get through it without making a complete ass of myself and as such took the weenie way out.
And you're not offending anyone, but given that you mispelled definitely and back and the fact that you're likely sitting on your ass I'm going to have to assume that I could outspell you sitting down and standing up. JK.
I am a Scrabble fanatic and play literati (Yahoo!'s version) often.
Before we moved last summer, I learned that there is an official Scrabble club in Charleston. If I were still in town, I would probably join.
Yeah, someone from the Charleston Scrabble club emailed me a while back to tell me about the club because apparently I mentioned Scrabble on the blog once. They sound like they're pretty serious about it. (www.wvscrabble.com)
I was in a spelling bee only once, in 4th grade, I think. I was feeling a bit cocky about it because I thought I was going to kick butt, but I got third place after misspelling "extracurricular." Then I was a little miffed when the next word for the two remaining spellers was "Louisiana." One of them spelled it wrong, so it turned out to be the winning word. I felt gypped.
So if you definition of "Nerd" is one who plays scrabble and like spelling bees, then what are your definitions of dork, geek, and dweeb? I consider myself a nerd, but I don't like scrabble all that much, nor do I enjoy spelling bees. So what am I by your definition?
I adore Scrabble and used to play Literati often with a friend online and I own that fancy schmancy Scrabble gameboard where the tiles are accented with 24k gold...
In second grade I lost the spelling bee with the word ~yard~. I can still remember standing up on stage, my mind rummy from standing for so long (relative for a second grader) and looking out at all the people in the gym...and it was just me and the other girl... and as the letters rolled off my tongue I knew I was spelling it wrong. And with that it was over and I came in second.
Am I the only one that thinks it's fun to play Scrabble with a chosen theme? It's a lot harder to play that way, but I do so enjoy it!~
Truly,
Insanity Infusion
Geez, Tysen, I don't know. It was a subject line created quick and dirty on a Sunday afternoon. Not creative and certainly not one to which I gave much though. I'm probably somewhere between nerd and dork. When I think of geeks, I tend to think more technology and science oriented. I've worked with geeks and I'm no geek though I could totally be a geek groupie. Anyway, my skills and interests lean more to the arts and humanities. So call me what you will -- I'm happy with me.
Lesson learned: Never brag about your spelling prowess while intoxicated....
That's never stopped me from bragging about everything else.
As the saying goes, "It ain't braggin' if it's true." And Lawbot, it ain't true...
True.
You know, this entire time I've been thinking "I really think it would be fun to wear a pumpkin on my head."
I can't believe I've never tried it.
That's funny, this entire time I was pondering whether you could make cuts in the sides so that it would ride more comfortably and stably on the shoulders. And when you're done wearing it, I guess you couldn't make pie out of it. Or could you, but not tell your guests when you serve it?
I'm such a geek.
I was also a good speller in grade school, but somehow the subject of competing in the school or city spelling bee never came up.
Nope, just shove it onto your head like any other big, smelly hat. As far as comfort goes, my advice is to drink as many beers as possible before trying it.
My spelling bee dreams were crushed when the word 'road' came up. I was too excited to ask them to spell it in a sentence, so I spelled the verb 'rode' and went home in shame.
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