How quaint 18th-century ‘spell-fights’ evolved into the Scripps National Spelling Bee

(via The Week) America has long loved the spelling bee.  Indeed, long before ESPN, the Scripps Howard News Service, or Dictionary.com, tiny orthographers were navigating the tricky, unpredictable terrain of the English language for the sake of education, entertainment, and the glory that comes with nailing the spelling of “pneumonia” in front of one’s peers.