Why the Spelling Society Won't Be at the National Spelling Bee

While it's not Sex in the City (thank goodness), the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been receiving a lot of media attention lately. On Friday, May 30, the semifinals will air live on ESPN from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (EDT), and the finals will be shown that evening on ABC starting at 8:00.

Sponsored by The E.W. Scripps Company in conjunction with over 270 newspapers, the National Spelling Bee has noble aims: "to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabulary, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives." Critics insist that the bee also encourages obsessive behavior--especially among the parents of the young contestants. This year more than 11 million students competed at the local level, with 270 of them making it to the quarterfinals.

One group that won't be represented at the bee in Washington, D.C. is the Spelling Society, which is busy celebrating its 100th anniversary. Not that the society's members oppose the competition. Rather, it's English spelling itself that disturbs them. The goals of the Spelling Society include "raising awareness of the problems caused by the irregularity of English spelling and [promoting] remedies to improve literacy, including spelling reform." By a happy coincidence, the society will be holding its centenary conference next weekend at Coventry University in England.

But if you're not a member of the Spelling Society, the bee may put you in the mood to test your own orthographic skills. If so, go to Merriam-Webster's Spell-It, where you'll find the official list of National Spelling Bee study words for 2008.

And if you'd simply like to improve your own spelling habits while learning more about the idiosyncrasies of English spelling, please visit these pages here at About Grammar & Composition:

• Top Four Spelling Rules
• Commonly Confused Words
• 200 Most Commonly Misspelled Words
• Writers on English Spelling
• The Spell Checker Poem