Try taking "pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" out for a spin! That's what the pint-sized spelling machines, including two from New York, competing in tomorrow night's Scripps National Spelling Bee finals will do, and the pressure is on.
The three-day competition, held in Washington, D.C., culminates tomorrow night with the handful of Championship Finalists, narrowed down from a field of 275 spellers from across the country, battling it out over "tchotchke" and "weissnichtwo." As of right now, both Miles Shebar, 13, of Hunter College High School ("Miles recently earned second place in his school talent show for his impression of Britney Spears") and Arvind V. Mahankali, 11, of Forest Hills Montessori School ("Arvind’s favorite school subject is math, and he aspires to be a physicist like his role model, Albert Einstein") are still in the running.
ESPN will air the finals tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time, and we're currently trying to find a bar that's screening what is surely the most heart-pounding athletic event of the year. In the meantime, peruse this list of the previous year's winning words and brush off the old Merriam-Webster.
