National Spelling Bee

I guess it's going on at the moment so USA Today published the list of winning words for each year the competition has taken place. What's interesting, but I guess not surprising, is that up until the 1980s I think we all would have stood a pretty good chance at getting the winning word correct (or at least know the meaning of the word). What's also funny is that this site is indicating to me that several of the words in the list are misspelled. Anyway, here is the list.

1925 gladiolus
1926 cerise
1927 luxuriance
1928 albumen
1929 asceticism
1930 fracas
1931 foulard
1932 knack
1933 torsion
1934 deteriorating
1935 intelligible
1936 interning
1937 promiscuous
1938 sanitarium
1939 canonical
1940 therapy
1941 initials
1942 sacrilegious
1946 semaphore
1947 chlorophyll
1948 psychiatry
1949 dulcimer
1950 meticulosity
1951 insouciant
1952 vignette
1953 soubrette
1954 transept
1955 crustaceology
1956 condominium
1957 schappe
1958 syllepsis
1959 catamaran
1960 eudaemonic
1961 smaragdine
1962 esquamulose
1963 equipage
1964 sycophant
1965 eczema
1966 ratoon
1967 Chihuahua
1968 abalone
1969 interlocutory
1970 croissant
1971 shalloon
1972 macerate
1973 vouchsafe
1974 hydrophyte
1975 incisor
1976 narcolepsy
1977 cambist
1978 deification
1979 maculature
1980 elucubrate
1981 sarcophagus
1982 psoriasis
1983 Purim
1984 luge
1985 milieu
1986 odontalgia
1987 staphylococci
1988 elegiacal
1989 spoliator
1990 fibranne
1991 antipyretic
1992 lyceum
1993 kamikaze
1994 antediluvian
1995 xanthosis
1996 vivisepulture
1997 euonym
1998 chiaroscurist
1999 logorrhea
2000 demarche
2001 succedaneum
2002 prospicience
2003 pococurante
2004 autochthonous
2005 appoggiatura
2006 Ursprache
2007 serrefine
2008 guerdon
2009 Laodicean
2010 stromuhr
2011 cymotrichous

 

I lost one of these once in Elementary School. Forgot the damn C in Connecticut. I vowed never to play this game again.

 

I hope it wasnt the first "C" :doh:

 

My wife's lineage was not cymotrichous. Except for one brother who had a curly fro in high school.

 

It was the c at the end of connect. I couldn't believe I forgot it.

 

Is her hair serrefine?

Okay I'm sure that's not the correct use of the word but you know what I mean.

 

Her hair is fine and straight but it does not in any way resemble a medical clamp.