Another gem from Quite Interesting, this time about lost languages:

There are about 6,900 languages being spoken in the world today. Unesco estimates that half of these will have disappeared by the end of the century as the languages of world commerce – English, Chinese and Spanish – spread. 

 And my favorite bit:

The last speakers of Zoque, a language from Tabasco, Mexico, are two elderly men who refuse to speak to one another. Relatives claim their mutual silence isn't motivated by personal animosity but by the fact that they have little in common.

Next Durham Spelling Bee coming up!

The Durham Spelling Bee is coming up on Saturday, April 24th at Joe Van Gogh.  It's a game of zest and test!* 

     Sign up at 6:00 p.m.
     Spelling begins at 6:30 p.m.

You have more than two weeks to hone your spelling skills.  If you'd like some pointers, scroll through this here blog; you'll find lots of spelling lists to choose from.

We are limited to 25 spellers, so you'll want to arrive early enough to sign up, mingle, and enjoy a beverage.  Everyone likes rooters, too.


*From Paul Wing's Spelling Bee (Thanks, Jen!)

More from the March 13th Bee

My apologies for the delay in posting. Here is our winner, Colie Hoffman!

Colie's winning word was "schism."  Colie and Joe Nofziger used up all the really difficult words (e.g. zugzwang, bouquiniste, lagniappe, estaminet, vichyssoise), so we had to revert to the merely difficult (e.g. muumuu, exchequer, mulct, troglodytic, asceticism).  Several of the contestants went many rounds this time.  Yippee!

2nd Bee results! DSB in the news.

Congratulations to Colie Hoffman, winner of the 2nd Durham Spelling Bee!

What a great time we all had!  While there were fewer in attendance this time (I neglected to account for Spring break and some kind of basketball tournament thingy), there were more — far more — words than before.  The Bee went 26 rounds, the final 16 of which added up to a head-to-head suspense-fest between Colie and Joe Nofziger, our 2nd place winner.  There was a wonderful spirit of camaraderie in the air.

The event was covered by a reporter and a photographer from The Herald-Sun.  They did a fine job of summing up the competition.  Check out the story and photos.  Thanks to Joe Van Gogh for providing prizes and for being such a delightful place to have fun and meet new friends.

Tonight's the night

 

I'll see you all tonight.  Have fun.  Good luck!

Durham Spelling Bee next Saturday!

The second Durham Spelling Bee is next week on Saturday, March 13. Sign-in at 6:00 p.m.   Spelling begins at 6:30 p.m.

Something new: there will be a limit of 30 spellers, so please get there early enough to sign up, mingle, and enjoy a beverage.

The Bee will be at the excellent Joe Van Gogh, 1104B Broad Street.  They have great beans.  And they are providing great coffee prizes!

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I look forward to seeing you there!

Scripps regional qualifier results

The regional qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee was exciting!  Congratulations to Jessia Connelly, who will go on to represent the Durham/Orange County region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC.  Congratulations, also, to Amber McDonald for winning 2nd place.  All the spellers were very impressive.  What a great bunch of kids!

It's National Grammar Day!

Celebrate National Grammar Day by reading "5 Easy Ways to Learn Grammar With The New York Times," and by visiting the Huffington Post's piece, "National Grammar Day 2010: Resources And The WORST Grammar Mistakes Ever."

(Is that sentence grammatically correct?)

Duke hosts regional qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee

This weekend, Duke University will host the regional qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

What	Regional Spelling Bee
When	Mar 06, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Where	Duke University - Page Auditorium

Winning spellers from schools in Durham and Orange counties will compete for a spot in the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC, June 2-4, 2010.

Quite Interesting Facts About Words

The BBC broadcasts a television series called Quite Interesting - devoted to the attitudes of "curiosity, discovery and humour."  It is hosted by the wonderful Stephen Fry.  QI also has a regular column in the weekend Telegraph.  In a recent article, some quite interesting facts about words are compiled, including this bit about word frequency:

Of the quarter of a million words in the OED [Oxford English Dictionary], about half are nouns, 25 per cent adjectives, 15 per cent verbs and the last 10 per cent are prepositions, conjunctions, suffixes etcetera. It is this last category that yields most of the top 10 most frequently used English words, according to a 2006 survey carried out by the Oxford English Corpus. They are: the, be, to, of, and, a, in, that, have and I. The 10 most popular nouns were: time, person, year, way, day, thing, man, world, life and hand. The 10 most popular verbs were: be, have, do, eat, sleep, drink, put, keep, run and walk. The 10 most popular adjectives: good, first, new, last, long, great, little, own, other and old.

I am kind of surprised about hand and run and walk.  Considering the source is the Oxford English Corpus -- which comes from literary textual sources, not the spoken word -- I suppose it does make sense.

P.S.  While I am loathe to cite a Wikipedia article about anything, there is an interesting entry for Stephen Fry (at least as of  25 February 2010 at 10:04 p.m. EST).

Word of the moment

The word of the moment is salmagundi

Pronunciation: sal-mə-ˈgən-dē

noun

1. a salad plate of chopped meats, anchovies, eggs, and vegetables arranged in rows for contrast and dressed with a salad dressing
2. a heterogeneous mixture. potpourri 

Sounds vaguely Anglo-Indian , doesn't it?  But it's not; it is French in origin (salmigondis).  Speaking of Anglo-Indian, that reminds me of one of my favorite dictionary titles:

Hobson-Jobson: A glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases, and of kindred terms, etymological, historical, geographical and discursive, by Sir Henry Yule.  It was published in 1903 (and is quite politically incorrect).  As it is out of copyright, there are free versions, both full-text and as a searchable database.

One month until the next DSB!

The second Durham Spelling Bee will be held on Saturday, March 13, 2010. Sign-in at 6:00 p.m. Spelling starts at 6:30 p.m. 

As usual the Bee will be at everyone's favorite coffee house, Joe Van Gogh, 1104B Broad Street.  Get yourself some beans!

And remember: there will be prizes!

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