Thursday Thirteen 204: Spelling Bee

IT’S TIME FOR THE NATIONAL SPELLING BEE!

The Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place this week in Washington, DC, with 275 young spellers competing. I'm extremely disappointed I won't get to watch the finals this year, which have been moved to cable. Grrr... For those who are able to watch, here are a few words to get you in the mood...


01. incommodious [in-kuh-MOH-dee-uhs], adjective: Inconvenient, as not affording sufficient space or room; uncomfortable

Some poets have seen death's offer in many forms and accepted the outcome but ignored incommodious invitations.
-- Lesley Choyce, Dance the Rocks Ashore

02. autodidact [aw-toh-DY-dakt] noun: One who is self-taught.

He is our ultimate autodidact, a man who made himself from nothing into a lawyer, a legislator—a president.
--Kevin Baker, "Log Cabin Values", New York Times, April 2, 2000

03. irenic [eye-REN-ik; -REE-nik], adjective: Tending to promote peace; conciliatory.

While this left him at odds with older ecclesiastics of a more irenic disposition such as Archbishop Murray of Dublin (1768- 1852), he found an ally in John Mchale (1791-1881).
--W. J. McCormack, Patrick Gillan, The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture

04. wistful [WIST-ful] adjective:
1: full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy; also: inspiring such yearning
2: musingly sad: pensive

"So,” said Wood, at long last, jerking Harry from a wistful fantasy about what he could be eating for breakfast at this very moment up at the castle.
-- J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

05. philippic [fi-lip-ik] noun: any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation.

I pulled at his sleeve, and we were followed up the sidewalk by a philippic on our family’s moral degeneration...
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

06. irascible [ih-RASS-uh-buhl] adjective: Prone to anger; easily provoked to anger; hot-tempered.

His father was an irascible and boastful bully, a heavy drinker and a gambler.
--Robin Waterfield, Prophet: The Life and Times of Kahlil Gibran

07. interdict [n. in-ter-dikt; v. in-ter-dikt] noun: any prohibitory act or decree of a court or an administrative officer.
–verb (used with object): to forbid; prohibit.

What Jem did was something I’d do as a matter of course had I not been under Atticus’s interdict, which I assumed included not fighting horrible old ladies.
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

08. oppugn [uh-PYOON], verb:
1. To assail by criticism, argument, or action.
2. To call in question; dispute.

I do not wish to oppugn the character of Miss Goodrich by bearing false witness in regard to her activities.
--Jeffrey D. Marshall, The Inquest

09. rectitude [rek-ti-tood, -tyood] noun: rightness of principle or conduct; moral virtue

In later years, I sometimes wondered exactly what made Jem do it, what made him break the bonds of “You just be a gentleman, son,” and the phase of self-conscious rectitude he had recently entered.
--Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

10. deleterious [del-uh-TEER-ee-us] adjective: harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way

Marguerite is convinced that violent television programs will have a deleterious effect on her children, so she carefully monitors what they watch.

11. vociferate \voh-SIF-uh-reyt\, verb:
To speak or cry out loudly or noisily; shout; bawl.

He replied audibly enough, in a fashion which made my companion vociferate, more clamorously than before, that a wide distinction might be drawn between saints like himself and sinners like his master.
--Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

12. nonplus [non-PLUHS], transitive verb: To cause to be at a loss as to what to think, say, or do; to confound; to perplex; to bewilder.

I told him that to many people she is one of the best sculptors alive, but he seemed nonplussed by the thought.
--Jed Perl, Eyewitness: Reports from an Art World in Crisis

13. epigamic [ep-i-GAM-ik], adjective: Attracting the opposite sex, as the colors of certain birds.

But now the epigamic urgings travel beyond their periphery, kneading painfully against my heart and lungs and brain.
--Jim Thompson , Now and on Earth


Watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Semi-finals: Thursday, June 2; ESPN, 10am EDT
Finals: Thursday June 2; ESPN, 8:30pm EDT



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