How Do They Choose the Spelling Bee Words?

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Spelling, National Spelling Bee, Challenge, Arms Race
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Spelling, English, National Spelling Bee, Challenge
3. 6:00 – 8:48: Spelling, Spell Pundit, National Spelling Bee, Vocabulary

Notable quotes from "How Do They Choose the Spelling Bee Words?"

• Use the same list, and list makers don't even consult previous years as to make the new one. The goal, of course, is to challenge and eventually defeat all but one of the…

  about Challenge · at 1:14

• Like definitions, example sentences, and languages of origin. Some panelists sort words by their difficulty. Others work on questions for the newer vocabulary section of the B…

  about Vocabulary · at 3:22

• Are never sent digitally for fear they might leak. So, what makes a word work for the spelling be? A while back, 538 studied all the words used from the second round and beyond…

  about Middle English · at 4:21

• National spelling bee is not a battle between the nation's twins to prove who's best at spelling. It's a battle between the nation's best spelling twins and the people who make…

  about National Spelling Bee · at 5:40

• You got to be pretty smart to outsmart these fifth graders. But if you want to outsmart data thieves, fishermen, and other cyber criminals, all you need is one click, thanks to this video sponsor, NordVPN. I'm guessing a lot of you know.

  about Cyber Criminals · at 7:43

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jacques Bailey — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at 2:55
  Jacques Bailey is the perennial word pronouncer for the National Spelling Bee, playing a crucial role in the event.
  Winter pairing it down, then make a near final list in February. At that point, Jacques Bailey, the bee's perennial word pronouncer, would take the list and practice all the…
• Jim Wagner — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 1:56
  Jim Wagner was responsible for the National Spelling Bee word list from 1961 to 1984.
  Some mystery, but enough has come out over the years that we can piece together roughly how it works. From 1961 to 1984, it was basically a one-man operation with the man in…
• Harvey Aluntuk — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 2:00
  Harvey Aluntuk took over responsibility for the National Spelling Bee word list after Jim Wagner.
  To 1984, it was basically a one-man operation with the man in question being a guy named Jim Wagner, who handed off responsibility to another guy named Harvey Aluntuk. Pre1961…
• Zila Avangard — Person · Referenced expert · 1 mention · first at 6:17
  Zila Avangard is a champion who highlighted the importance of Spell Pundit in her preparation.
  Provide you will include every words the grown-ups pick for you when you step up to the mic. Champion Zila Avangard once said that she couldn't describe what B prep would be…

Companies & orgs

• Spell Pundit — Company · Referenced entity · 2 mentions · first at 6:08
  Spell Pundit is a tool used by spellers to prepare for the National Spelling Bee, highlighting the competitive nature of the event.
  Have contributed to an arms race between the adults who make the list and the kids who spell the words. One tool, Spell Pundit, costs $600 a year and promises that the 120,000…
• Merriam Webster — Company · Referenced entity · 1 mention
  Merriam Webster provides the dictionary used as the source for all spelling bee words.
  There are about 472,000 words in the Marryiam Webster unabridged dictionary, the source for all spelling bee words.

Concepts & topics

• Spelling — Concept · Core topic · 7 mentions · first at 0:11
  Spelling is the primary skill tested in the National Spelling Bee, and the discussion revolves around its complexity and evolution.
  National spelling bee is not a battle between the nation's twins to prove who's best at spelling. It's a battle between the nation's best spelling twins and the people who make…
• Challenge — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 1:20
  The concept of challenge is central to the discussion, focusing on how the National Spelling Bee tests participants.
• Vocabulary — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 3:27
  Vocabulary is a critical component of the National Spelling Bee, with a dedicated round testing this skill.
• Arms Race — Concept · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at 0:47
  The term 'arms race' is used metaphorically to describe the escalating difficulty of the National Spelling Bee.
  Their words in magazines. Those times have passed. In the last couple decades, the proliferation of online dictionaries, study tools, and coaching, have contributed to an arms…
• English — Concept · Referenced concept · 2 mentions · first at 4:35
  English is the primary language of the National Spelling Bee, with its complexities adding to the challenge.
  That h sound can be made by any vowel in the English language, including y. Soda, jacket, cavity, computer, burrito. These aren't just five more of Sam from Hi's must haves for the modern.
• Middle English — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at 4:35
  Middle English is another language origin for words used in the National Spelling Bee.
• French — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at 4:37
  French is a significant language origin for words used in the National Spelling Bee.
  Are never sent digitally for fear they might leak. So, what makes a word work for the spelling be? A while back, 538 studied all the words used from the second round and beyond…
• Latin — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention
  Latin is one of the primary language origins for words used in the National Spelling Bee.
  Are never sent digitally for fear they might leak. So, what makes a word work for the spelling be? A while back, 538 studied all the words used from the second round and beyond…
• Cyber Criminals — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at 7:48
  Cyber Criminals are mentioned in the context of cybersecurity threats that NordVPN helps protect against.

Places & events

• National Spelling Bee — Event · Core topic · 3 mentions · first at 0:11
  The National Spelling Bee is the central focus of the discussion, exploring its history, structure, and challenges.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Luxurian condominium croissant psychiatry, therapy. They're not just Sam from Hi's must-haves for the modern man. They're all words that at one time could have won you the National Spelling Bee, America's favorite 100-year-old child spelling competition. The winning kid gets the title, a big trophy, and $50,000. Many of you are probably familiar with this. Perhaps you got eliminated from your school's mandatory round because you put an H in a sign for a random example. But you're probably less familiar with how the annual word list with its clarism psoriasis and apagetura comes to be or rather to be or on some occasions not to be. So today we're talking about how the scripts national spelling bees word list gets made. the techdriven arms race between the organization and our nation's children. And as a treat, how to spell coinia.

0:54 There are about 472,000 words in the Marryiam Webster unabridged dictionary, the source for all spelling bee words. Of those, about 120,000 are considered challenging enough for the bee. And a given year's list is over 1,000 words with shorter lists in use at regional competitions that feed into the big May finale in Washington DC. No two years use the same list, and list makers don't even consult previous years as to make the new one. The goal, of course, is to challenge and eventually defeat all but one of the spellers, ideally in about 2 hours, to crown a champion, the length of their ESPN time slot. This presents a challenge for the word lists architects.

1:31 How do we make it hard enough that we don't spend 6 hours watching every little nerd smash words like cat, dog, and aglet, but not so hard that we knock out 90% of the competition in round one with caught, Chihuahua, and auillette? The process of answering that question is shrouded in some mystery, but enough has come out over the years that we can piece together roughly how it works. From 1961 to 1984, it was basically a one-man operation with the man in question being a guy named Jim Wagner, who handed off responsibility to another guy named Harvey Aluntuk. Pre1961, I have no idea. Perhaps stone tablets from God. In 1985, they established a word selection panel, which is how the list still comes together today, though the panel has grown. As of 2009, there were 12 panelists. In 2023, there were 21. My calculations say they'll hit 100 around 2145.

2:23 The panelists are generally word people. There's probably a better word for that, and the panelists likely know what it is. Many of them are former B champions. In the panel's earlier days, the word search would take up the summer, starting after the previous year's bee crowned its champion. Good words were found on the radio, in magazines like the New Yorker, or in shopping cataloges hawking tough to spell products like Roy Tea or Jacker jackets. Panelists each brought their hall of words to a two-day meeting in the fall where they'd make a rough draft of the list, then spend winter pairing it down, then make a near final list in February. At that point, Jacques Bailey, the bee's perennial word pronouncer, would take the list and practice all the words before the final panel meeting in May, where they'd finalize the list before, well, the finals. Since those days, the panel has grown. Of the 21 panelists for the 2023

3:09 B, five were full-time B people or people and 16 were contractors with five former champions among them. They divide and conquer. Some folks specialize in finding and submitting words. Others work on assembling the extra information like definitions, example sentences, and languages of origin. Some panelists sort words by their difficulty. Others work on questions for the newer vocabulary section of the B, which ask contestants to select a word's meaning from a multiple choice answer list. The next year's list making process begins as soon as the championship ends. And while I don't have as detailed a timeline for you, the Associated Press did get access to the word selection panel's final meeting, beating before before the be.

3:46 It was about 2 days ahead of the final, and the panel was picking and organizing words into what round they'd be used, or rather in what round they'd be be used. Sorry about all the B puns. I'm just beused. Anyway, before being officially added to the list, Jacques Bailey reads every single word aloud to the panel along with its language of origin, definition, part of speech, and example sentence so they can identify potential issues like homophones. In every meeting, the lists are printed out on binders and forbidden to leave the room. Likewise, lists received by pronouncers at lower level competitions that feed the final in DC are never sent digitally for fear they might leak. So, what makes a word work for the spelling be? A while back, 538 studied all the words used from the second round and beyond of the 1996 to 2014 National Spelling Bees and found that words of Latin, Middle English, and

4:37 French origin account for about 54% of words used in that period, the most popular by far. So those languages historically provide good B-word, though all languages of origin are allowed. Listmakers are primarily concerned with challenge. They want their words tough but fair. A word like coinia, the winning word in 2018, is a good challenge because it has two h sounds in it. Coinia. That h sound can be made by any vowel in the English language, including y. Soda, jacket, cavity, computer, burrito. These aren't just five more of Sam from Hi's must haves for the modern man. They all use different letters for the uh. So to spell coinia, you have to figure out that it uses these. So that one's good tricky. But glide is bad tricky. It was axed last minute from the 2023b because it had a similar but not identical spelling to another word with the same definition. Glide. The speller would have a hard time knowing which one

5:34 they were meant to spell and would likely get eliminated for that reason rather than any lack of spelling skills. At this point, the script's national spelling bee is not a battle between the nation's twins to prove who's best at spelling. It's a battle between the nation's best spelling twins and the people who make the list. Like I said at the beginning of the video, there was a time that you could win the whole B by spelling therapy. There was a time the word selection panel could find their words in magazines. Those times have passed. In the last couple decades, the proliferation of online dictionaries, study tools, and coaching, have contributed to an arms race between the adults who make the list and the kids who spell the words. One tool, Spell Pundit, costs $600 a year and promises that the 120,000 words they provide you will include every words the grown-ups pick for you when you step up

6:17 to the mic. Champion Zila Avangard once said that she couldn't describe what B prep would be like without it, but likened it to quote having a book with no pages. Spell Pundit isn't running on insider information. They're just that sure that they built their database with the same tools and priorities as the list makers. You may remember the 2019 National Spelling Bee, the one that went three hours before crowning eight co-ch champions because the organizer simply ran out of challenging words to give them. Those kids defeated the dictionary and six of the eight used spell pundits.

6:46 That's to say nothing of the ever more available spelling coaches who can charge you over $200 an hour to turn you into a champion over Zoom. With the spellers increasing skill and savvy, the word selection panel has their work cut out for them. Even with tools like Spell Pundit available, spellers can't and don't actually memorize all the hundred thousand words they might face in competition. Instead, they learn roots, rules, and different languages phonics. So, over the years, as the kids get sharper, the bee has made some structural changes, like adding the affforementioned vocabulary round and a speedbased lightning round designed to produce one single winner. But it's also just fallen upon the word selectors to find and give harder words. Where once they would hesitate to include words of unknown origins or place names or trademarks, those words are now embraced. So goes the life of a spelling

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Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "How Do They Choose the Spelling Bee Words?"?

In order: 0:00 Spelling, National Spelling Bee, Challenge, Arms Race; 3:00 Spelling, English, National Spelling Bee, Challenge; 6:00 Spelling, Spell Pundit, National Spelling Bee, Vocabulary.

What is mentioned in this Half as Interesting episode?

16 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including National Spelling Bee, Spelling, Challenge, Vocabulary, Arms Race, Jacques Bailey. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "How Do They Choose the Spelling Bee Words?"?

The episode runs 9 min; the transcript is about 1,680 words in 13 timestamped sections.

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