A.P. wire story:
Bursting into tears, eighth-grader Anurag Kashyap of California became the U.S. spelling champ Thursday, beating 272 other spellers in a tough two days of competition. He said he felt “just pure happiness.”
Anurag, 13, of Poway clinched “appoggiatura,” a melodic tone, to take home some $30,000 in prizes. He won in the 19th round of the 78th Annual National Scripps Spelling Bee.
“A melodic tone,” my ass. But after all these years of trying to teach students how to spell “appoggiatura,” I can finally prove that it can be a helpful thing to know.