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Spelling it simply..
Posted by Dan. Ee.
on
2:41 AM
Spell-It-Right Challenge, organized by RHB Bank.
I have heard of this competition many times but I just have never got round to criticizing it. This competition, is a spelling competition. It offers a multitude of cash prizes to the winners, in exchange of observing your capability to probably spell "androgynous" or "asphyxiate", among other somewhat hard words.
I have seen a share of weird words myself. I have taken this test; a English language test that is organized by a university from Australia, all in the name to prove my English prowess to my mates, and to the foreign organizers as well. Took the test I did, and I could've sworn right there. The entire paper was dotted with so many new English words that made it seemed I was taking another foreign language. Only the presence of the standard English grammar made me realize it was the Queen's language I was being tested in.
So therefore, it is important for students to attend such competitions so they could learn bigger, better, and more complicated words. So they could apply for such ridiculous tests that could cost up to RM100 per paper.
That's what the competition is about. Through the same friend of mine (let's give her a name, and it's Nadia), she got tested on words so ridiculous that you'd swear it was made up. I remembered asking her about what words she was tested on.
They are:
Flosculous (Flowery),
Illatration (Barking at someone),
Pyknic (a person who has a round belly and tend to put on weight)
If you heard those three words consecutively and ask to spell each, what would happen?
I'd stutter that's what will happen. The last word, God knows how it's going to be pronounced - peeknic? Puy-nick? - would knock me down like a sack of onions being dropped by a van on a Sunday morning from the airport. Our onions are mostly imported from India or China these days.
Hearing those words blew me away like how a fart would do to my roommate. I felt pity for her though. I didn't think that such borderline foreign words would be used in this competition.
I heard the winner was some dude, who probably burnt the latest edition of Oxford's and mixed it with his cereal every morning. He'd probably slept with headphones on, an 8 hour long audio dictionary playing in his year. For a week.
This competition may have the right intentions - improving English vocabulary and extending the word ranges for students nationwide. The cash incentives offered are quite the nice bonus, too.
But hey, looking at students stuttering over words such as "incinerate" or "creole", is probably what this competition is all about. Were I part of the audience (there is an audience watching how it's being played out), I would probably snicker or chuckle every time someone messes up their spelling.
Competitions, in nature, are entertainment for the masses. It is often touted as a place where people test their mettle for prizes. Most would aim for the grand prize, though. And they would battle it out, be it with each other or with something else; the Romans used lions and sometimes elephants for their gladiators.
So what I'd like to think is that this whole spelling competition is created with the intention to please some higher ups in the News Straits Times or in the dark corridors of power in the RHB Bank headquarters. Probably there is some fun in watching children being pitted against words that are enough to make an average English speaker's tongue bleed with confusion.
I'd love to write more but alas, I am afraid to bore my readers any more. Do await a part two though - there's quite a bit more to write about this competition. More things that doesn't make too much sense but would probably provide an interesting read, mind.
Until then, toodles!
I have heard of this competition many times but I just have never got round to criticizing it. This competition, is a spelling competition. It offers a multitude of cash prizes to the winners, in exchange of observing your capability to probably spell "androgynous" or "asphyxiate", among other somewhat hard words.
I have seen a share of weird words myself. I have taken this test; a English language test that is organized by a university from Australia, all in the name to prove my English prowess to my mates, and to the foreign organizers as well. Took the test I did, and I could've sworn right there. The entire paper was dotted with so many new English words that made it seemed I was taking another foreign language. Only the presence of the standard English grammar made me realize it was the Queen's language I was being tested in.
So therefore, it is important for students to attend such competitions so they could learn bigger, better, and more complicated words. So they could apply for such ridiculous tests that could cost up to RM100 per paper.
That's what the competition is about. Through the same friend of mine (let's give her a name, and it's Nadia), she got tested on words so ridiculous that you'd swear it was made up. I remembered asking her about what words she was tested on.
They are:
Flosculous (Flowery),
Illatration (Barking at someone),
Pyknic (a person who has a round belly and tend to put on weight)
If you heard those three words consecutively and ask to spell each, what would happen?
I'd stutter that's what will happen. The last word, God knows how it's going to be pronounced - peeknic? Puy-nick? - would knock me down like a sack of onions being dropped by a van on a Sunday morning from the airport. Our onions are mostly imported from India or China these days.
Hearing those words blew me away like how a fart would do to my roommate. I felt pity for her though. I didn't think that such borderline foreign words would be used in this competition.
I heard the winner was some dude, who probably burnt the latest edition of Oxford's and mixed it with his cereal every morning. He'd probably slept with headphones on, an 8 hour long audio dictionary playing in his year. For a week.
This competition may have the right intentions - improving English vocabulary and extending the word ranges for students nationwide. The cash incentives offered are quite the nice bonus, too.
But hey, looking at students stuttering over words such as "incinerate" or "creole", is probably what this competition is all about. Were I part of the audience (there is an audience watching how it's being played out), I would probably snicker or chuckle every time someone messes up their spelling.
Competitions, in nature, are entertainment for the masses. It is often touted as a place where people test their mettle for prizes. Most would aim for the grand prize, though. And they would battle it out, be it with each other or with something else; the Romans used lions and sometimes elephants for their gladiators.
So what I'd like to think is that this whole spelling competition is created with the intention to please some higher ups in the News Straits Times or in the dark corridors of power in the RHB Bank headquarters. Probably there is some fun in watching children being pitted against words that are enough to make an average English speaker's tongue bleed with confusion.
I'd love to write more but alas, I am afraid to bore my readers any more. Do await a part two though - there's quite a bit more to write about this competition. More things that doesn't make too much sense but would probably provide an interesting read, mind.
Until then, toodles!
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