Spelling champ (almost)

This week a young Canadian girl managed to make it to the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She and one other young lady went head-to-head to win the title of National Spelling Bee champion. Unfortunately the word “weltschmerz” stumped the Canadian who had to settle for second place. Now this is quite an achievement – to be the second best speller in all of North America. Spelling bee’s must have been created by teachers who couldn’t hold gym class because it was raining outside. In the spirit of competition, instead they decided to create a new sport – a sport using only your brain. But I ask this question – what in the world is the purpose of a spelling bee? I have absolutely no idea what being a spelling bee champion would add to your life. Does it mean that you are good at memorizing? Perhaps good at sounding words out? Is proper spelling a transferable skill? If you can spell well does that mean that you can drive a stick-shift? If it has significant effects on one’s life, I’ll pay more attention to my spell-checker while typing. Incidentally – weltschmerz is not identified by my spell-checker.