Book project, love of language leads author to competitive spelling championship

Since words are one of the primary currencies of communication, it is helpful if they are spelled correctly.

Jeff Kirsch is, you might say, a real stickler for getting the letters in the proper order. Kirsch is a lecturer in Spanish and director of the Spanish-Portuguese independent-study program in the Department of Liberal Studies. And as of Sept. 11, he is the champion of the National Senior Spelling Bee, sponsored by the Wyoming chapter of AARP. He bested 23 other over-50 contestants, winning on “milleflori,” a multifaceted type of decorative glasswork made in Italy. He also nailed the tricksters “fustian,” “cannula” and “gaijin” along with more than a dozen other challenging words (as listed in the sidebar).

“Yes, I am extremely sensitive to language,” he says. In fact, it’s as though Kirsch collects languages. In addition to English, Spanish and Portuguese, Kirsch says he can “get by” in French, German and Italian. He also studied Hebrew, Russian, Latin and Japanese—the latter clearly helped him negotiate the “gaijin” challenge.

“Unfortunately, I never used them and forgot all I had learned,” he says.

Kirsch did not go into the AARP contest unfamiliar with the ways of spelling bees. As a young teen growing up in the Cleveland area, he competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, but did not do as well as he did this time.

“It’s pretty cutthroat for the kids—one mistake and you’re gone forever,” he says. “At the AARP contest, we can make up to three errors in the oral competition without being disqualified.”

However, as the years between the earlier bee and this one passed, Kirsch found himself drifting further and further from competitive spelling. “I had lost that identity, although not the interest, after high school. It just never came up again. Even many of my closest friends didn’t know I had competed in the National Spelling Bee,” he says.

However, a literary crisis last year brought back his earlier interest in spelling. “I had run out of ideas for another novel,” he says. By that time Kirsch had authored three: “The Big Uzi” (Writers Club Press, 2001), “God’s Little Isthmus” (Waubesa Press, 1997) and “Madlands” (Waubesa Press, 1993). He thought perhaps he would try his hand at memoir, taking as his subject his experiences in the Scripps bee.

Kirsch forged ahead with his memoir, seriously undertaking it this past June. While working on the project, he heard about the AARP competition for adults. “I wondered what it would be like to compete now,” he says, and resolved in July to try his luck. He studied for two months, investing a much smaller amount of time than the three years he had used at age 12 to prepare for the state and national bees.

AARP contestants indeed proved formidable, and Kirsch plans to include this adult competition in his book. One William Long, a law professor at Willamette College in Salem, Ore., proved a particular adversary. “He came in second when he misspelled ‘sericeous,’ meaning covered in silky down,” Kirsch says.

“In English, spellings are not always phonetic, as the majority of them are in Spanish,” he says. “I think that English is the only language with spelling bees, if for no other reason than to address that problem.”

Surely you wonder if Kirsch plays Scrabble.

“Yes, I play Scrabble,” he confesses. “Some of my friends don’t like to play with me because I’m always coming up with strange or obscure words. But if I were really competitive, I’d play competitive Scrabble.

“That’s where the money is.”

How do you spell “winner”?

ex•o•skel•e•ton All hard parts that develop from the ectoderm or mesoderm in vertebrates.

ca•rot•id Either of two major arteries, one on each side of the neck, that carry blood to the head.

unc•tu•ous Characterized by affected, exaggerated or insincere earnestness.

ou•tré Highly unconventional or bizarre.

lack•a•dai•si•cal Lacking spirit, liveliness or interest.

in•sou•ci•ance Blithe lack of concern; nonchalance.

chi•mer•ic Created by or as if by a wildly fanciful imagination; highly improbable.

ca•ma•ra•der•ie Goodwill and lighthearted rapport between or among friends.

quer•u•lous Given to complaining; peevish.

dil•et•tante A dabbler in an art or a field of knowledge.

svelte Slender or graceful in figure; slim.

can•nu•la A flexible tube that is inserted into a bodily cavity, duct or vessel to drain fluid or administer medication.

di•a•ste•ma A gap between two teeth.

en•tab•la•ture The upper section of a classical building resting on the columns.

her•me•neu•tic Interpretive; explanatory.

fus•tian A coarse sturdy cloth; pretentious speech or writing; pompous language.

li•bid•i•nous Having or exhibiting lustful desires.

xe•roph•i•lous Flourishing in or adapted to a dry, hot environment.

gai•jin A non-Japanese person.

mil•le•fi•o•ri A type of mosaic glass made with sections of fused glass rods.