The phrase 'Spelling Bee'.

DoctorEdgeWild · 2005-07-17 20:48:28

Does anybody know the origins of the phrase 'spelling bee'? It's has been slowly killing me all day and I'm reaching out to you for help. Google has shed no light on my problem as of yet. It's become such an issue that I may have to repost in personal issues before the day is out. :D Thanking you in advance.

17-07-2005 09:48PM

#1

DoctorEdgeWild

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Does anybody know the origins of the phrase 'spelling bee'? It's has been slowly killing me all day and I'm reaching out to you for help. Google has shed no light on my problem as of yet. It's become such an issue that I may have to repost in personal issues before the day is out.

Thanking you in advance.

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#2 17-07-2005 10:24PM

ixoy

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If you search in google groups - particularly alt.usage.english - it seems "bee" meant a meeting of a group of people, such as - in this case - to spell out items.

Or it seems it may be down to the fact that, when learning how to spell words, children had to sound out the word to figure its spelling - "bee" being the sounding out for the letter 'B'.

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#3 17-07-2005 10:50PM

DoctorEdgeWild

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Thank you very much Ixoy. That site is new to me and very useful. Thank you again for the reply.

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