Deadspin has video of a wonderful scene from this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee. Here’s a recap.
Emma Ciereszynski: Hi.
Judge: Hi. “Sabermetrics”.
E.C.: Sabermetrics. Can I please have the definition?
Judge: The statistical analysis of baseball data.
E.C.: May I please have the language of origin?
Judge: It’s from an English acronym, plus a Greek-derived English part.
E.C.: Sabermetrics. S-A-B-E-R-M-E-T-R-I-C-S. Sabermetrics.
[Exeunt, to wild applause]
Can we agree that the matter is now settled once and for all? To the average person, there isn’t a more credible arbiter of spelling than the national spelling bee. I generally don’t care about the “correctness” of speech or spelling, but there is literally not one reason to British-ize the word sabermetrics.
So, to Tango and his Tangettes: please, I beg you, listen to reason.
