PRIZE SPELLERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 May 1936, Page 5

PRIZE SPELLERS

CANNOT DEFINE TERMS.

NEW YORK, March 30

Experienced spellers went down like bowling pins before the technical onslaught of a “definition bee” held in place of the yearly spelling bee of the Town Hall Club here last night. Even the most imposing dictionaries were not much help. One definition expert convulsed the audience with laughter when he asserted that “a mountebank” was a “Republican idea of Roosevelt.” Going further into politics, another contestant described “boondoggle” as ‘‘a WPA project that’s ridiculous and impractical.”

Mrs Samuel C. Webster and Lawton Mackall led the-two rival teams, each of 21 members. Henry Pratt Fairchild, president of (he Club, acted as judge. Mis James H. Causey, of Denver, told the Judge that a burro was a type of canary found only in the Rocky Mountains. A young woman who was asked to define “dodo” said it was “a stupid bird.” “Ruminate” brought forth the explanation that it meant “a cow thinking and chewing its cud.” ‘‘Corsage” caused almost enough confusion to stop the contest when every authority save the big dictionary that lay on Mr Fairchild’s table insisted that it, meant a bouquet, rather than the bodice of a woman’s dress. Again, contestants insisted that "farthingale” was a bird, but references showed that it was a cloak. The showdown came when “myrmidon” was propounded, and although it was found to be a warrior of ancient Thessaly, the nearest any competitor came, was “a prehistoric monster.”

In the second contest, the defini--tion of “bourdon” as the bass stop > of an organ rather than a political! term, brought victory to the women’s team.