Apparently different news reporters have very different attitudes toward Jamaica’s spellers.
In its article on the National Spelling Bee, the New York Times claims that “Trudy C. McLeary [was] a polite 14-year-old from Kingston, Jamaica, whose lilting accent and prim manner charmed the tense audience.”
On the other hand, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution demonstrates a markedly different attitude toward Trudy: “The audience, mostly parents of spellers no longer in the hunt, grew irritated with Trudy McLeary of Jamaica, who asked the announcer repeatedly if he was sure there were no other pronunciations or definitions for her word.”
Hmm… I’ll leave the analysis of those two quotes up to you, the readers. ::grin::
I’d have to agree with the second quote…she was charming the first 20 times she asked, but then it got ridiculous.
i saw the bee you are referring to. trudy got screwed! although it was three spelling bees ago, i remember it like it was yesterday. the word: aplustre. the judges pronounced aplustery…not ap-luster. when i finally saw the spelling of the word, i was appauled! they were not pronouncing it right and trudy knew there was something wrong. screw the audience and the judges! it was their impatience and misproununciation that forced trudy into retirement.
It’s not pronounced “ap-luster” either, actually. It’s “a-plus-tree”.