The vagaries of English…

Guetapens. Spelling this French-derived word that means ambush or trap made Snigdha Nandipati the winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. My beef: Each year thousands of kids win or lose spelling bee events with words that are NOT English. While it’s true that America is a melting pot and English is the most wanton and promiscuous of the world’s languages, the Scripps organizers should be ashamed of themselves, along with the organizers of every other spelling contest that try to trip up...