PRECOCIOUS

Six-Year-Old Out at Spelling Bee

Lori Anne Madison fails to spell “ingluvies.”

How do you spell go-getter? For six-year-old Lori Anne Madison, who was bounced from the National Spelling Bee Wednesday, it doesn’t matter anymore. Madison, the youngest contestant to enter the competition, had no trouble spelling her first word “dirigible” (which, as we all know, is an adjective for “capable of being steered”). What brought down the precocious young girl? Spelling “ingluvies” with an “e” instead of an “i.” After hearing the news of Madison’s exit, we imagine millions of people across the nation, aged 6 to 26, breathed a sigh of relief, blissfully unaware of the “widened portion of the esophagus, in many mollusks, insects, and birds, which serves to accumulate, store, and sometimes also begin the chemical processing of food.”