Thursday, March 16th, 2006

GRE Bee

posted by lizzie    « 2 Comments »    tied to Uncategorized   

As much as I hate to say it, all those Spelling Bee practices I went through as a kid are coming in handy these days. Ask any of my brothers or sisters and they will all tell you that sitting around the kitchen table on weekday nights going through spelling words with my mom is not among their favorite memories. I remember the tears, the crumpled pieces of paper, the endless writing and rewriting of the words I missed. I remember wondering why it was important for me to know how to spell “jacal” (pronounced ha-kal, meaning a thatched roof dwelling made of wattle and daub found in Mexcio and the Southwest US), and secretly being relieved (and maybe a little sad) when, during my eighth grade year (the last I was eligible for the spelling bee) I missed the word “stupefy” at the district bee. I put an “i” where the “e” should have been. It sure “stupefied” me! Ha ha ha! At least I’ll never misspell it again. But there were bright spots and fun times in the early morning drill downs and after school tests. Mostly they had to do with the mnemonic devices we would come up with. I can still hardly look at a mosquito sucking the blood out of my arm with out singing to myself, “Moe the mo-skweet-o” before I take a slap at it.

Now that I am trying to increase my vocabulary in preparation for taking the GRE, I am utilizing the spelling bee techniques again. Micah and I have taken to sitting down for a half an hour here and there to memorize a few words. Micah has the book on his lap and he’ll ask me to define some obscure word. After I struggle with it for a while, racking my brain for any familiar clues (as long as it is not “veracity” for which I can identify the root word “veritas” which means truth–thanks to Harry Potter and Veritas Serum), I give up. Micah will then tell me what it means and I’ll repeat it a few times before looking for ways to use it in my everyday life. Just like I used to do with the spelling words. When possible I resurrect the “Moe the mo-skweet-o” method and come up with super ultra mega creative ways of remembering words: truculent=fierce and cruel. “Truc”–like a monster truck. I hope images of huge tires and sharp teeth painted onto the nose of a truck are coming to your mind.

So when I take the GRE in the next few weeks, rest assured that I will click the mouse with alacrity (eager and enthusiastic willingness), knowing (or hoping, anyway) that my efforts to become erudite (very learned or scholarly) are not totally in vain. I will continue to read perspicaciously (with acute perception, keen discernment) and voraciously ( having an insatiable appetite for an activity or pursuit) so I can find new words to add to my collection.

And years from now, whenever I see a scone, I will picture myself having absconded with it (depart clandestinely, to steal off and hide) to a closet and eating it greedily while the honey drips down my chin.

Comments

  1. becca says:
    March 17, 2006 at 12:28 am

    Oh those were the days! I remember hiding under the loveseat in the living room crying my eyes out after misspelling a word or two. I still repeat “moe the mo-skweet-o” as well Liz. I can’t resist the urge to pass these nifty helpful hints onto my fifth graders in hopes that they’ll reap the benefits I did. I’m not sure they appreciate it- heck, I’m not sure I really do! But it seems to be a part of me- kind of bitter sweet memories- you know? And thanks to those long hours I’ll surely never forget how to spell some of my favorite words like “toucan” and “hibachi” which I learned to hate temporarily. Yup, definitely good times.

  2. Jodie says:
    March 17, 2006 at 1:57 am

    This reminds me of when I took floral design here at BYU and had to memorize 100 flowers–both genus and species names. Dorian sat with me for hours coming up with mnemonic devices…because I’m no good at them! Thanks to Dorian, I aced the test…and thanks to Micah, you probably will also!

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