Facebook must know this story already to have presented this to me:
I lost on that word in 8th grade in the spelling bee, the feeder that could have taken me to Washington, D.C., although probably not–the words the kids win on these days are crazy. Maybe they were easier forty years ago, but I would have topped out maybe in districts at best. Maybe state, but probably not.
But I lost very early on threshold when Mr. Biedenstein, my 8th grade teacher and later (but still in the 1900s) became mayor of the new town of Byrnes Mill (old town, but newly chartered or whatever), when Mr. Biedenstein pronounced threshold with three Hs.
Not that I am bitter or anything.
Actually, no. Although I dominated the class-based fun-and-games from 8th grade Speech and Drama class games Alphabetics (not unlike Password) and Show-Offs (not unlike charades) and on to Honors Western Civ’s Jeopardy! my senior year of high school, when it came time to do actual competitions with other schools, I did not do so well. I did not study, so I got bounced out of the Civics/History trivia competition my senior year of high school very early.
I am pleased to note, however, that when I attended my sons’ Scholar Bowl tournament at their high school, I found I would have cleaned up on most but the fast-calculating math questions.
So I have that going for me, which is nice.
