MOULTRIE, Ga. — After watching a few clips of the 2016 National Spelling Bee, I had flashbacks to elementary school. It’s not that I wasn’t a very good speller, I just didn’t like standing in front of the class and spelling words until you reached acquiesce or ombudsman.

Of course in our procedures, it wasn’t that we just had to spell the words correctly, we had to use them in a sentence which meant we had to know their meanings.

And I couldn’t get away with something like, “I just bought a new dictionary and the word acquiesce is in there.”

Nor could I say, “The word ombudsman sounds like someone who is getting his tooth filled and is trying to tell his dentist that he drives a bus for a living.”

So a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old shared the championship. 

Jairam Jagadeesh Hathwar, 11, correctly spelled “Feldenkrais.” It’s a physical education system. Sounds like something I did when I tried to run track — “fell and crashed.” Not exactly a system.

And 13-year-old Nihar Saireddy Janga, correctly spelled “gesellschaft,” a type of social association. 

Now I think it’s great that these young people are very good spellers. But sometimes I truly wonder about the value of spelling words that likely have no practical application in most people’s lives. And therefore wouldn’t an essay contest have more meaning that a spelling bee?

Again, don’t get me wrong. Being a good speller is critical to most any profession, because ultimately it translates into good communication. 

I make my living with words, and in all my years in the profession I’ve never used Feldenkrais, gesellschafts nor any of the other winning words from the past two decades. I don’t even recall having read anything where those words were used. I suppose if Scrabble is one of your favorite games, then being able to spell very obscure words is a tremendous asset. 

But having read about these spellers over the years, they all seem to be good kids who work hard and are up to challenges. That in itself is a big positive. And if this makes them happy and is a factor in them becoming successful, then by all means spell all the funky words you want.

Effective language, which of course is the connection of words within meaningful context, has always fascinated me.

I have studied writing styles that run the gamut. I truly enjoy good writing. And to me, most good writing comes in the venue of “plainly speaking.” 

It was Miss Grace Puckett at Whigham High School who taught me not to mix my metaphors. Basically she taught me not to “saddle my horse and sail off into the sunset.”  Of course songwriter Lyle Lovett found an exception to that rule when he wrote “Pony on a Boat.” Google it. I think you will like it. 

She also taught me how to diagram sentences. Since then, I don’t think I ever diagrammed another sentence,  but that was a way of teaching me sentence structure which I’ve used every day since. 

And so that’s my epistle on the National Spelling Bee. So I wonder if members of a gesellschaft have a secret handshake, and do they serve refreshments at their meetings?

(Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)