cbellamy@heraldsun.com; 419-6744
DURHAM -- How do you spell "sardoodledom"? Colie Hoffman knew, but it wasn't the word that clinched her victory at Saturday night's adult spelling bee, held at Joe Van Gogh coffee shop on Broad Street. Hoffman won the final round by spelling "schism."
Out of 12 spellers who signed up, she and Joe Nofziger were the final two left standing. They spelled it out in a total of 15 rounds by themselves, out of 25 total rounds.
Gary Pattillo, a librarian at UNC Chapel Hill, led the spelling bee, armed with his Webster's unabridged dictionary and supplement, and his word list. The rounds began with fairly familiar words like "beginning," "animated" and "juicy." Several rounds later, contestants were sweating it out with words like "impitigo" and "daiquiri."
Hoffman's prize was a pound of coffee, and Nofziger got a T-shirt. "You guys have been awesome," Pattillo said during their back-and-forth rounds.
Hoffman is an editor for a travel research company, and writes poetry. She participated in spelling bees in school, she said. "I'm just having fun," she said of her victory.
Saturday's was the second bee that Pattillo has organized. The first bee was held in January, and 22 spellers signed up. An adult bee in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn inspired Pattillo to organize the bee. (This bee was for "ages 14-114," and several contestants were children of the adults.) He was sitting in Joe Van Gogh "bemoaning the fact that we didn't have an adult spelling bee here." His friend Bob Slentz-Kesler asked him why he couldn't start his own, and he did.
Pattillo calls this bee "low stress" and "a fun intellectual endeavor. Some people are competitive, but it's not all about the competition. It's about having fun," Pattillo said.
"It's just an excuse to get together with people," said Slentz-Kesler, who participated Saturday. "I'm an average speller. I don't care if I win or not."
That fun was certainly present Saturday, with plenty of good-natured banter between Pattillo and the contestants. Pattillo gave the contestants warm-up questions -- such as what superpower would you like to have? Ben Kimmel answered that he would "like to be able to spell words in my own language." Another contestant, who goes by the name M.A.R.K., asked for a tough word. "You're going to regret saying those words," Pattillo joked.
At this bee, every contestant got one do-over for the night. For each word, they could ask part of speech, language of origin and definition. Those who "spelled out" of the rounds got a choice of consolation prizes -- lollipops, a Joe Van Gogh sticker or a coffee scoop.
Pattillo said he uses different sources for word selection, although every word must be in Webster's. He also includes "words that I like the sound of and are fun." For each word, he does research into the language of origin, and he makes up the sample sentences.
"It's just been a labor of love. It's a lot of fun," Pattillo said.
He plans to have more adult bees every six to eight weeks at Joe Van Gogh.
For more information, visit durhamspellingbee.blogspot.com online.
