Date:    Sat, 28 Feb 1998 14:30:28 EST
<br>From:    AAllan  AAllan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM 
<br>Subject: Re: Spelling Bee (minor correction)
<br>
<br>Barry Popik wrote:
<br>
<br> when the authors
<br> of AMERICA IN SO MANY WORDS chose their word-of-the-year for 1875, they
<br> ignored "spelling bee" (which doesn't appear anywhere in the book)
<br>
<br>As a matter of fact, it is in the book, under "bee," the word for 1768:
<br>
<br>"Thanks to the orthographical oddities of English, one kind of bee has
<br>persisted to the present day and become a formal national competition: the
<br>spelling bee."
<br>
<br>It's very understandable that he didn't notice this reference, because it's
<br>not in the index. We'll correct that for the next edition!
<br>
<br>And thanks to Barry's posting, we'll be able to say more about the "spelling
<br>bee."
<br>
<br>- Allan Metcalf
<br>