“Steak” or “Stake” — Get Clarity Upfront
Life Lessons Learned At My 3rd Grade Spelling Bee
Does anyone else spell-check their texts?
Upfront clarity and attention to detail prevent preventable mistakes
All I could hear and feel was the roar of the blood rushing through my head as I stumbled and nearly fell over from dizziness. I was the best speller in the 3rd grade, if not the whole K-6 school. Why had I just heard the simple word I had spelled repeated for the next contestant?
It was my first spelling bee. I was confident that I was going to win because I never misspelled any of the words on the spelling tests. I couldn’t believe the next word presented to me was so easy. I confidently spelled “S T E A K” and was starting to smile when I heard the word repeated.
In my overconfidence, I had failed to ask for either the definition of the word, or to have the word used in a sentence. The word being said was even easier than the one I had spelled. The word was “STAKE.”
I didn’t actually hear the next contestant spelling the word. The roar of the blood rushing through my head was deafening, and I could feel myself getting dizzy. The memory is still vivid all these years later, and I’m…
