Erin Huber learned a new word Thursday - one she probably will never forget. It was "iconolater," a noun, meaning "worshiper of images or icons."
Unfortunately, Erin spelled it "ichonoloter" during the fourth round in the 64th annual National Spelling Bee here.The Deseret News state spelling champion and Utah's delegate to the national contest was among Wednesday's 165 survivors of the record 227 boys and girls who started.
During the first round, she had correctly spelled "fanaticism," described as "a fanatic outlook or behavior, especially by excessive enthusiasm or wild zeal on some subject."
But 17 other spellers were eliminated during the opening round.
Round two, with advanced words taken from the "Words of the Champions" booklet, eliminated 49 more spellers, but Erin stayed in with "madeleine."
Another word, "laloplegia" - paralysis of muscles involved in speech - kept Erin's hopes alive as she was successful in remaining in the contest for the third round.
Fourth round kicked off Thursday's spellfest. And it also turned out to be the longest - and most fatal - of all rounds, starting at 8:45 a.m. and ending at 12:30 p.m.
The first word of the round was, appropriately, "orthographize," meaning "to spell a word correctly." And the word was, indeed, spelled correctly by Anna Varghese, 11, from Springfield, Ohio.
The round featured words not previously available to the students in a compiled list such as "Words of the Champions," which all participants had received on the local level.
Most of the fourth round was spent by the students asking the word pronouncer, Alex J. Cameron, associate professor of English at the University of Dayton, to describe each word's language origin, its definition, part of speech, other possible pronunciation, to use the word in a sentence or any other means of buying extra "think time."
One speller went even further in asking for help. Devin L. Wicker, 12, from Riverton, N.J., and apparently a fan of the "Wheel of Fortune" television show, asked, "Can I buy a vowel?"
The boy's question evoked laughter from program officials as well as the audience and helped to relieve the tension in the ballroom.
When the Utah speller from Vernal Middle School was given her fourth word and misspelled it, she was one of 111 spellers to be eliminated during the round.
As a result of Erin's assigned position of number 21, she ended 158th overall. If she had been assigned later in the competition, such as 221, for example, her finish would have placed her 60th overall - hence, the "luck of the draw."
It is estimated that more than 9 million boys and girls in fourth through eighth grades participated on the local level this year.
In Utah, the Deseret News sponsors the spelling bee statewide in cooperation with the State Office of Education, State PTA and Utah Education Association.