Word(s) of the Day

So I came in second in the Spelling Bee seasonal championship last Monday. This was typical but I was pissed, though I was also trying hard not to be pissed. Firstly, even if I hadn't gotten the one word wrong that I shouldn't have gotten wrong (as opposed to the words I got wrong that were entirely reasonable to get wrong) I likely would still not have won. Secondly, half my annoyance was at the fact that the prizes I received were fairly useless. I hate being an ingrate, but it seems like a natural condition. My wife always commented on it, how hard I found it to be simply gracious.

Anyhow, as prizes I got a six-month or year membership to the Brooklyn Museum, something of almost nil value to me since I can get in free anyway. I also received two free tickets to the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical I've wanted to see. Except I had already gotten free tickets from the previous bee and I haven't used them yet as I can't find anyone to go with, don't want to go with a stranger (and I don't have even casual acquaintances who want to go) and I'm not so mercenary as to bother auctioning them off on Craigslist. I also got a pair of earmuff/headphones, but I have never owned a portable music player in my life nor often felt the need to. Finally, I received a gift certificate to a bakery that is reputed to bake some pretty fine cupcakes. I hope to make use of that, at the least. I don't mean to sound bitter; it's simply that there seems to be something deeply buried in me that greatly resents the imperfect gift.


But that is all by the by. The word I misspelles that I should have gotten correctly was:

Saltimbocca

A dish consisting of rolled pieces of veal and ham cooked with herbs. Also in Comb., as saltimbocca (alla) Romana.

1937 M. MORPHY Good Food from Italy 89 (heading) Veal and Ham à la Romana [Saltimbocca alla Romana]. 1959 Good Food Guide 224 Escalope Cordon Bleu, ‘rather like a Roman Saltimbocca only deep fried in batter’. 1960 Harper's Bazaar Oct. 154/2 Saltimbocca combines paper-thin slices of veal with prosciutto and a sage leaf. 1969 G. GREENE Travels with my Aunt I. xiii. 126 He put a lot of saltimbocca Romana into his mouth. 1977 C. MCCULLOUGH Thorn Birds xvii. 447 I'll have pâté, some scampi and a huge plate of saltimbocca. 1978 Chicago June 237/1 [There are] half a dozen veal dishes (Saltimbocca alla Romanawith prosciutto, butter, herbs, and marsalais a specialty), [etc.].

I knew that the crux was one c or two; and I was leaning towards two. But my natural inclination is for one (is it Italian or Spanish in which the word for mouth is "boca"?). But the official pronunciation of the word is with a short o, as in bocce, (to me, as in Vacca, that seems to invite two cees, but someone in the crowd yelled out that it should be a long o, as in boat. That made me reconsider, incorrectly of course.

But I was pleased with some other words I had to spell. I forget the challenging ones that I ad to guess at, but one of the fun ones was

Arachnophagous
A word I can't find in the dictionary but means, of course, spider-eating; phagous or phagy being my favorite Greek root. The word makes me laugh not because of it's meaning but because whenever phagous is used as a suffix I am reminded of Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street. As if he had siblings with even odder names. And then the word is easy to spell.


And that was that, below are some words I will not bother at the moment to define or discuss but which tweak my consciousness occasionally:

Avuncular
Avoirdupois
Adipose


Toodle-oo