aposiopesis
May 31, 2024 10:10 PM Subscribe
Watch how this twelve year old wins the $50,000 2024 US National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling, among many other insanely difficult words, ‘aposiopesis’. When they interview his father he says, ‘I have no words’ but then, instead of an ellipsis or an em-dash, produces a veritable flood of them.
tbh 'aposiopesis' is just spelled how it's pronounced. I'm way more impressed with 'caixinha', jeez
posted by rifflesby at 10:44 PM on May 31 [2 favorites]
posted by rifflesby at 10:44 PM on May 31 [2 favorites]
Eh, caixinha is easy if you know Portuguese. :P
But what the hell is "sciniph"? Turns out it's a type of bug. But look at Wiktionary's etymology:
From Latin scinifes, cinifes or ciniphes, plural, from Ancient Greek σκνίψ (skníps, “gnat, small fly(, flea?)”), plural σκνῖφες (sknîphes) or σκνῖπες (sknîpes).
So it doesn't sound Latin but is; the Romans didn't even know how to spell it, and they took it from Greek but transliterated it wrong. That's a lot to inflict on the poor kid.
posted by zompist at 10:52 PM on May 31 [9 favorites]
But what the hell is "sciniph"? Turns out it's a type of bug. But look at Wiktionary's etymology:
From Latin scinifes, cinifes or ciniphes, plural, from Ancient Greek σκνίψ (skníps, “gnat, small fly(, flea?)”), plural σκνῖφες (sknîphes) or σκνῖπες (sknîpes).
So it doesn't sound Latin but is; the Romans didn't even know how to spell it, and they took it from Greek but transliterated it wrong. That's a lot to inflict on the poor kid.
posted by zompist at 10:52 PM on May 31 [9 favorites]
‘I have no words’ but then, instead of an ellipsis or an em-dash, produces a veritable flood of them.
So the opposite of aposiopesis? So meta, that Dad, may his caixinha be a rattle.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:55 PM on May 31 [5 favorites]
So the opposite of aposiopesis? So meta, that Dad, may his caixinha be a rattle.
posted by BobTheScientist at 10:55 PM on May 31 [5 favorites]
quōs ego— sed mōtōs praestat compōnere flūctūs.
posted by Earthtopus at 11:00 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]
posted by Earthtopus at 11:00 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]
Mod note: An early derailing comment removed.
posted by taz (staff) at 11:48 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:48 PM on May 31 [1 favorite]
Aw, screw those words. I'm still having problems with chiffer ... chiffeur ... chi ... French for a closet thingy. Device. Thing.
Goddammit!
Oh, and congratulations to that kid!
Chiph ...
Shifff ...
Damn.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:18 AM on June 1
Goddammit!
Oh, and congratulations to that kid!
Chiph ...
Shifff ...
Damn.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:18 AM on June 1
A perfectly cromulent achievement.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 5:42 AM on June 1 [3 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 5:42 AM on June 1 [3 favorites]
That's sweet. I feel better that they have the rapid elimination round as the old way seemed anxiety inducing for too long.
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:51 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]
posted by JoeXIII007 at 6:51 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]
chiffarobe - but also chifferobe or chifforobe? What the chiff!
We need the schwa. chiffərobe. (N.B. - we have some. Great for old houses with closet space insufficient for the consumer uneconomy)
posted by hexatron at 7:02 AM on June 1
We need the schwa. chiffərobe. (N.B. - we have some. Great for old houses with closet space insufficient for the consumer uneconomy)
posted by hexatron at 7:02 AM on June 1
"Aposiopesis" is one of my favorite words.
I was always terrible at spelling things out loud and would often get kicked out of class spelling bees pretty early on (I forget the word, but once a friend accused me of misspelling a word intentionally so I didn't have to do it anymore. I said that I genuinely misspelled it). I'm pretty good at spelling when I'm writing or typing (although it probably took me too long to know how to spell "restaurant' or "necessary" on the first try) but there's just somehow a mental block when I'm asked to spell something verbally. So I admire these kids who are good at it.
posted by edencosmic at 9:57 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]
I was always terrible at spelling things out loud and would often get kicked out of class spelling bees pretty early on (I forget the word, but once a friend accused me of misspelling a word intentionally so I didn't have to do it anymore. I said that I genuinely misspelled it). I'm pretty good at spelling when I'm writing or typing (although it probably took me too long to know how to spell "restaurant' or "necessary" on the first try) but there's just somehow a mental block when I'm asked to spell something verbally. So I admire these kids who are good at it.
posted by edencosmic at 9:57 AM on June 1 [1 favorite]
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