Buzz. B.U.Z.Z.
Last night I went to a charmed dinner with some computery not-blogger friends. We ate fried cheese and made particularly merry as is our high-spirited way.
After drinking wine we had this discussion OR SOMETHING LIKE IT:
Me: Why is it called a spelling bee?
Modi: Like a working bee. You know.
Me: Yeah, but a working bee is because you're all busy like bees. Why would they call a spelling bee a bee?
Pops: Right, that's weird. Why is that?
Me: You're not busy at a spelling bee.
Modi: You're busy spelling.
Me: It's not the same.
Nony: I'm gonna go home and google.
He did -
The etymology of the word "bee" is unclear. Historically, it has described a social congregation where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, or an apple bee.
1. That's not an answer.
2. Does spelling count as a 'specific action'?
3. Wtf is a 'husking bee'? Is it rude? Is Kathleen Turner involved?
I'm done.
541 days til the next election.
Comments
Maybe there was once a bee that was a fantasmagorical speller, and it all just snowballed from there.
no. that's silly. my apologies.
I'm hoping to be invited to a 'rooting bee' one day.
Maybe it's because all the girls work hard all day making sweet honey while the boys just loll about on their fat arses hoping for a root one day.
Um. that doesn't have anything to do with spelling, does it?
Husking involves ripping the husks off corn-cobs I think. Dont aks me abot speling though pleaz.
Two words: American English.
The etymology might not be, but what about the ENTOMOLOGY!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!1!!
< / nerd >
This question was answered in a Charlie Brown cartoon strip once. I remember reading it when I was a tacker.
You'll have to google it for yourself.
I'm very busy studying and writing essays and not reading blogs or procrastinating at all.
I'm not.
This looks like another of those "who the fuck knows" type etymology questions. Lots of theories out there. A nice summary is here:
The word bee, as used in spelling bee, is a language puzzle that has never been satisfactorily accounted for. A fairly old and widely-used word, it refers to a community social gathering at which friends and neighbors join together in a single activity (sewing, quilting, barn raising, etc.), usually to help one person or family. The earliest known example in print is a spinning bee, in 1769. Other early occurrences are husking bee (1816), apple bee (1827), and logging bee (1836). Spelling bee is apparently an American term. It first appeared in print in 1875, but it seems certain that the word was used orally for several years before that.
Those who used the word, including most early students of language, assumed that it was the same word as referred to the insect. They thought that this particular meaning had probably been inspired by the obvious similarity between these human gatherings and the industrious, social nature of a beehive. But in recent years scholars have rejected this explanation, suggesting instead that this bee is a completely different word. One possibility is that it comes from the Middle English word bene, which means "a prayer" or "a favor" (and is related to the more familiar word boon). In England, a dialectal form of this word, been or bean, referred to "voluntary help given by neighbors toward the accomplishment of a particular task." (Webster's Third New International Dictionary). Bee may simply be a shortened form of been, but no one is entirely certain.
I love the idea of "bean" meaning "voluntary help for a neighbour". I shall have to start using it in normal conversation.
A husking bee is where one husker says to another husker, "Husker Du?" and the other husker replies "Ja, ich bin ein husker." I'm not sure what happens after that...
and the community answers... what comes & goes around ms. fits
i like richard watts for this... haha he
That modi guy sounds like a real wit. What interesting smarty pantsy people you dine with. Did you discuss further spelling issues, such as the correct use of "licence" and "license"?
How highbrow.
now where did "busy as a beaver" come from? how come it couldn't be a spelling beaver?
Haha I just found your blog and you are funny.
Spelling bee. Holy See. Life is full of mystery. Because I don't know why anything is called anything.
anthony, i'm a fan of the bean too. in other bean-related news - Beano or Beanfeast, is an English colloquial term for a binge drinking session, specifically the occasion when serfs would be offered a meal by the lord of the manor once a year. that could also make its way into casual conversation...
Aha ! I see what you've done there Fits. Get the nerds tied up on word derivation (they love it !) so they don't hassle you for Friday Q & A. Excellent "Thursday Blogging Tactic (TM)". Carry on.
Bees don't look all that busy to me. I think they're a pack of bludgers who perpetuated this myth about them being hard working, when really how hard can it bee (ha) to make honey??
I'll just go now.
If you go to the Merriam-Webster dictionary online (www.m-w.com) you'll notice that the homepage is currently promoting...the 79th Annual Spelling Bee (US based, sorry kids). And if you click on the link, you'll be taken to a world of spelling-related jouissance.
But even better, you'll be taken to a page with a link to the fantastic "Story of PHAT", tracing the genealogy of this wonderfully polyvalent term. WITH PICTURES.
mskp wrote:
Beano or Beanfeast, is an English colloquial term for a binge drinking session, specifically the occasion when serfs would be offered a meal by the lord of the manor once a year. that could also make its way into casual conversation...
Hell, that sounds like a perfectly good name for those times where your employer takes everyone out to the pub after work for beer.
FOR FUCK'S SAKE SOMEONE APPRECIATE MY HILARIOUS ENTYMOLOGY/ETYMOLOGY JOKE.
I misspelled 'entomology'.
I have soiled myself.
*shameful look*
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