196. Word Play 6: Beeing
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2024
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
I went to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to marvel at kids spelling words I had mostly never even heard of. But when you’re at Bee Week, the competitive spelling is merely the tip of the icebee.
Find out more about this episode, get the transcript, and listen to the rest of the Word Play series, at theallusionist.org/beeing. And visit spellingbee.com for all the information about this year's tournament.
Members of the Allusioverse also got daily Beecaps from my time at Bee Week, so if you want to read those, head to theallusionist.org/donate. Plus, you get regular livestreams with me and my collection of reference books, inside scoops into the making of this show, watchalong parties, and the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. AND you’ll also be keeping this independent podcast going.
Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk winningly about your product or thing on the show, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Understance: comfortable, stylish, size-inclusive bras and undies. Shop the range - there's a big anniversary sale 11-13 June! - and learn about your own branatomy at understance.com.
• Babbel, the language-learning app designed by real people for real conversations. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at Babbel.com/allusionist.
• Wildgrain, the subscription box for sourdough breads, fresh pastas, and artisanal pastries that you can cook from frozen in 25 minutes. Get $30 off your first box, PLUS free croissants in every box, when you start your subscription at Wildgrain.com/allusionist or use promo code ALLUSIONIST at checkout.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire/new home for your cryptic puzzle that takes months to solve. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Salzman, enter the apiary of language and attend |
| 0:10.5 | the Scripps National Spelling Bee. |
| 0:13.3 | Yes, our word play series has reached word sports. |
| 0:17.3 | And today you'll hear how it feels to be at the bee, |
| 0:20.8 | from past and recent finalists. Members of the illusionverse also received B-caps about how I felt |
| 0:26.8 | to be at the B each day, so if you would like to read those, go to the illusionist |
| 0:31.1 | dot org slash donate to sign up. The Illusionist.org Donate to sign up. |
| 0:34.0 | The Illusionist is available in the UK to listen to on BBC's sounds, |
| 0:39.0 | as it's the podcast uncharted. |
| 0:41.0 | I do love it when a podcast decides to take on very visual subjects |
| 0:44.8 | and make them work in audio so hats off to mathematician Hannah Fry for making |
| 0:49.6 | her BBC sounds podcast unch, all about graphs. |
| 0:55.0 | In voice form, she depicts the line rising against the Y-axis, not really, but I'm sure |
| 1:00.7 | she has the vocal chops, but she does something way more interesting looking into the human beings that lie behind the lines because data doesn't just get there without humans. |
| 1:12.0 | In episodes just 15 |
| 1:13.4 | tidy minutes long, Hannah packs in some huge stories exploring data and |
| 1:18.3 | discovery like how a group of nuns might reveal the key to longevity. Whether orangutans can teach us about |
| 1:25.2 | midlife crises? Hope so. And what you can learn about gossip from a flotile factory in Hungary. |
| 1:32.1 | All that and more on Uncharted with Hannah Fry. |
| 1:35.8 | Head over to the BBC Sounds App to Listen Now. |
| 1:39.6 | On with the show. |
| 1:50.0 | The spelling bee year begins in September. Schools across the US holds spelling bees. The winners progress to regional bees and the regional champions are eligible to compete in the nationals, which take place during the culmination of the spelling bee calendar, B Week, which this year takes place at the end of |
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