Ever since I discovered the Scripps National Spelling Bee on television a decade ago, I have become obsessed with the event and its participants. I am fascinated by the sheer amount of time and energy devoted to preparing for the Bee, on the part of both the spellers and the organizers. As a linguaphile and a perpetual student of the English language, I am drawn each year to what I believe is the ultimate celebration of orthographic precision. As the 2008 competition draws closer, I look forward to seeing the fine crop of talent that next year's Bee will showcase.

Of course, the National Spelling Bee has its fair share of opponents, not least of which is the Simplified Spelling Society. Founded in 1908, the Society has since been on a mission to reform the system of English spelling by eliminating its inconsistencies. Visit the SSS's website and you will see some good examples of their chief complaint. (Why don't "comb," "tomb" and "bomb" rhyme? Why do "they," "say" and "weigh" rhyme?) Sure, the Society makes a good case for change, but the practice of reforming a language that draws from so many others only serves to introduce a new set of problems. The fact is that English spelling is phonetic to some degree, but has a great deal more to do with where a word comes from and what it means. To dismantle the association between orthography and origin is to ignore the fact that each word tells a story - a fact that gives the English language its charm.

In spite of the continuing debate, spelling has remained a popular pastime since the Bee's founding in 1925. Over the past eight decades, the event has become more than just a spelling competition; for many participants, today's Bee is a forum for meeting new people and forging lifelong friendships. Moreover, it is a symbol of hard work, dedication and unwavering discipline. But most importantly (at least for me), the Bee is a proud display of the English language and all its contradictions: its beauty and its inelegance, its exactness and its imprecision, its countless rules and its equally countless exceptions.

The English language is the consummate double-edged sword, at once steadfast and unpredictable. It is this very quality of the language, and the challenges that its study presents, that draw me to the Bee each year - and 2008 will be no exception.

Learn more about this author, Serena Pizzicato.
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