Word: spells
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...York Stock Exchange, the Dow-Jones industrial averages last week edged up to a high of 191.32, best since Aug. 26, 1946. Then they worried off a shade or two. After such a fast climb as they made in May (180.28 to 191.06), a spell of backing & filling was to be expected. Many Dow theorists even expected a substantial "correction...
That was just the sort of thing this particular delegation would notice. They were some of the 40 crack teen-age spellers, the pick of four million schoolkids from all over the U.S., in Washington for the 21st annual Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. The prize ($500) looked almost as big as some of the words they would be asked to spell...
...muggy afternoon last week, the 15 boys and 25 girls (spelling is a literal-minded business) clustered around microphones in the National Press Club for the finals. After a few rounds of easy ones, the spellers began to trip. Escutcheon, toboggan, chrysalis, mollify, appurtenant, desecrate, diaphanous, discernible, penitentiary . . . (The master of ceremonies tried to soothe the kids who flubbed: "Too bad, Sara, you stayed up there real long.") Troche, scintilla, poliomyelitis, calyx, cirrus, piccalilli, lachrymose, geodesy, insipid . . . ("That's all right, Martin. I always spell 'insipid' with a 'c,' too.") Syllabus, addendum, flaccid, desiccate, accordion...
...Spell ponchol" said the master of ceremonies. Darrell took a deep breath and plunged: "P-a-u-n-c-h-o." Jean spelled it: "P-a-n-c-h-o." Both also missed on termagant and Pharisaical. Darrell muffed oligarchy, but Jean got it right. Then, rubbing a lucky penny, she rattled off psychiatry without a pause...
...really didn't matter: the candidate didn't have a chance. A chunky little (5 ft. 2 in.) lawyer piped up: "I do." Someone said: "Hey, La Guardia, what's your first name? . . . Fiorello? Oh, hell, let's get someone whose name we can spell...