Spelling Bee

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    Where the main characters include at least one kid, a common plot is for them to participate in a school spelling bee. Basically any kid sitcom or cartoon is going to have an episode of this.

    Basically, it is a competition where the competitors are asked to spell some of the most obscure, arcane words in the language. Very popular in English speaking countries due to the fact that English has some of the most convoluted spelling rules and one of the largest vocabularies of any language, with words (and pronunciation) borrowed from nearly every language on Earth. To do well in an English bee requires a very good memory, and a passing knowledge of every language on the planet. They're also popular in China, Korea, and Japan (for writing out archaic characters), and the Francophonie (le Dictee). But for countries with more regular spelling rules, this exercise would seem rather pointless.[1]

    Spelling bees are Serious Business in Hollywood, which will usually give them more coverage than school athletics. The rules are also generally not the same as Real Life spelling bee rules.

    Now spell "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis."

    Examples of Spelling Bee include:

    Film

    Live-Action TV

    • Cheap Seats featured the National Spelling Bee Championship in four episodes.
    • Mr. Belvedere had a Spelling Bee episode. Wesley threw it for a girl by spelling phlegm "flem." Then she dumped him.
    • Frasier had a Spelling Bee episode with Frasier's son, too.
    • Full House had a Spelling Bee episode with Stephanie, where the guys taught her mnemonic devices to help her remember words. First word she gets? Mnemonic. Has no idea how to spell it.
    • Psych had a murder set at one. Gus turned out to be a spelling bee fanatic.
    • According to Jim had a Spelling Bee episode, involving a bribe of dinner from Red Lobster for Jim's daughter to forfeit so she didn't have to be driven there...
    • Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: Ned keeps coincidentally getting easy words... and then gets a really impossible one. Cookie has to deal with a group of rival spellers trying to psych him out. He wins after spelling "victorious", but it takes Ned and everyone else pulling their pants down and showing their underwear for Cookie to remember how to spell it.
    • The Amanda Show spoofed this with a smelling bee.
    • On Leverage, in an attempt to make a student look good, Sophie rigged a spelling bee to give him easy words and the other students impossible ones. This backfires when the student's opponent is capable of spelling everything up past Antidisestablishmentarianism, and he is unable to spell "bicycle".
    • The Middle had an episode in which Brick participates in a spelling bee. It even followed the proper rules, used actual words from past spelling bees, and mentioned the national bee in Washington (though the fact that the show's on the network that runs the spelling bee probably has a lot to do with it). Unfortunately, Brick ended up coming in second... because of his tendency to repeat the last thing he said in a whisper.

    Poetry

    • A. Van Jordan's 2004 book M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A is a suite of poems exploring the life of Macnolia Cox, who, in 1936, became the first African American finalist in The National Spelling Bee.

    Theatre

    Western Animation

    • The Simpsons had an episode with an international spelling bee tournament, and they wanted Lisa to take a dive so a cute boy could win.
    • In one Peanuts special, the winning word was beagle, but Charlie Brown couldn't spell it.
      • And in the newspaper cartoon, Charlie Brown got the word "maze" and spelled it M-A-Y-S, like Willie Mays.
    • Drawn Together had a spelling bee episode, where Foxxy, of all people, was the best speller in her youth.
    • Hey Arnold! had a spelling bee episode with Helga, who purposely threw it because her father only wanted her to win because it was the first contest her sister Olga had won and he wanted Helga to become an Olga clone, and even tried to bribe Arnold into losing, which made her realize he had no confidence in her.
    • South Park nods to the trope with the episode "Hooked on Monkey Fonics", although the spelling bee does not end up being the primary focus of the episode; the spelling bee is merely an excuse to introduce two homeschooled siblings to the cast (one of whom is, in fact, a pastiche of an actual national spelling bee winner). The main plot of the episode deals with the brother's attempts to fit in at school, and Kyle having a crush on the sister.
    • Arthur had a school-wide spelling bee where the title character won.
    • William Murderface of Metalocalypse was invited to participate in a celebrity spelling bee. Between his unrealistic opinion of his own spelling prowess and his mistaken expectation of receiving a word list in advance, Toki doesn't expect him to do well. And he doesn't, because he starts spelling his first word before the judge calls it out.
    • Ed Edd and Eddy had an episode where Ed ends up winning a spelling bee at the school, to the justified horror of Double D who was also competing.

    Real Life

    1. ↑ Althrough in some countries, like Mexico, the equivalent are the ortography contests, since Spanish, especially the Mexican Spanish dialect, have some complex ortographic rules.
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