Do we need to be whitefonting the words?

I think the West Coast is on time delay.

How much do I love the Spelling Bee watch n post? Now, if only they were wearing Oscar gowns...

I just got a call from an old friend from grad school who defended her dissertation yesterday. 10 years! Too long! So glad I left after, um, 6. Also, all the good departmental gossip.

I can't believe how many Hawaiian words there have been.

Given what one of the commentators said about Hawaiian phonetic spelling, I can't either. They don't use many Spanish words, do they? Pretty much, you can spell anything in Spanish by hearing it.

You can with Italian too and yet an Italian word got that one kid.

because some people are seeing Dominionism wherever there is Christianity

I don't really like using the term Dominionists because I think it just gets confusing. My concern is the political power of the religious right although really the concern isn't so much for the religious agenda as it is for the pro-corporate agenda that is riding it. I do worry about attacks on contraception, sexual education, science education, gay rights, and censorship but I don't think that the religious right has been all that successful in those areas. What they have done is help elect people who have gotten us into a unnecessary war, ballooned the deficit, weakened environmental laws, expanded executive power to crazy levels, and generally set the country back IMO.

I think partly the power of the religious right is also a perception issue. If you support helping the disadvantaged, not bombing people if we don't have to, or protecting the environment for the next generation from religious convictions then you are labeled as liberal as opposed to the religious left.

You can with Italian too and yet an Italian word got that one kid.

That kid's obviously a loser, then. JUST KIDDING! I didn't see that. Italian seems a little more complicated, though.

Now I want Finola to win, 'cause it's a cool name.

Well, in theory, they will have studied the basic phonetics of many languages.

( Giacoso - kid spelled it with a 'j' - a letter not found in Italian. )

Sure, she's got a cool name -- but isn't that yet ANOTHER French-derived word?

Okay, I took French until Grade 10 and unless she's in private school or AP classes, those French classes aren't helping much at this point. I guess with word roots, but still.

But Sue, I'm sure she's studying French-for-Spelling-Bees, too. I mean, these kids aren't just using knowledge they've picked up in school.