- T-H-O-N-O-U-S,
autochthonous.
- That is correct.
(audience applauding)
- [Announcer 1] That's it, she's done it.
- [Announcer 2] Unbelievable, we have a tie
in the National Spelling Bee finals.
Looks like it's all gonna come down to the tie-breaker.
- [Announcer 1] Oh, wait a second, what's happening?
The judge is leaving.
- [Announcer 2] This is highly irregular.
In the three decades I've been calling this event,
I have never seen anything like this.
- [Announcer 1] Oh, hold on.
It looks like someone from the audience
is trying to crash the stage.
- [Announcer 2] Wait, I'm being told by our producer
that a special Southern judge
is providing a new set of words for an overtime round.
- [Announcer 1] How can you tell he's Southern?
- [Announcer 2] Because he's wearing Carhartt
with actual dirt on it.
- [Announcer 1] Okay, so it all comes down to this.
- [Announcer 2] We're about to find out
what spelling bee word this judge has pulled
from the depths of some Ivy League college textbook.
- [Announcer 1] Or a receipt from Hardee's.
- Yeah, uh, your word is...
(Southern word that could be pen...or pin...?)
- [Announcer 2] Wait, that's it?
- [Announcer 1] No, it can't be that easy.
- Can you please repeat the word?
- Um, yeah, it's, uh,
(Southern word that could be pen...or pin...)
- [Announcer 1] Maybe it is.
I think we're about to have ourselves
a new spelling bee champion.
- [Announcer 2] Hold on, it looks like he's asking
for some clarification.
- Can you please use the word in a sentence?
- Well, oh, yeah, uh, I'm fixin' to reach in that desk
over there and grab me a p_n.
- [Announcer 1] Wait a second.
Is he talking about an ink pen?
Or a safety pin?
- [Announcer 2] I have no clue,
and it appears our finalist doesn't know, either.
- What's the origin of the word?
- Ooh, um, well,
I reckon it's this little piece of paper right here.
(audience chuckles)
- [Announcer 1] Wow, he is not gonna make this easy.
- What's the definition of the word?
- [Announcer 1] This should definitely clear things up.
- Definiti-, uh, well, uh, yeah, it's a, it's a thing,
you know, with a, it's got a pointy end,
and if you're not careful,
you will put your eye out with it.
You know, come on y'all, it's a p_n.
- [Announcer 2] Wow, that didn't help at all.
- [Announcer 1] Yeah, somehow, I'm even more confused.
- Pen.
- [Announcer 2] Here we go, he's about to spell
what could be our final word,
and it'll only take three letters.
- [Announcer 1] I'm not even sure it's three.
He really stretched that vowel out.
- P.
- [Announcer 2] This is it.
- E.
- [Announcer 1] He went with ink pen.
- N. Pen.
- Mm, I see, yeah.
I believe that y'all misunderstood me.
The word was pin, you know,
like pin, P-I-N, pin.
- [Announcer 2] What a turn of events.
(audience applauding)
- I'm sorry, buddy, that one,
that one's on me right there.
You'll get 'em next time.
I guess, I don't know how that works.
All right who's up next?
- [Announcer 1] The pressure is on Amy now.
If she can spell this word correctly,
the National Spelling Bee trophy is all hers.
- Oh, uh, your word is chesterdrawers.
- Mm, I'm out.
(lively music)
- Well, come on, y'all,
I got a whole list of words right here.
Next up was cattywampus,
and there's five different ways to spell that.
- [Announcer 2] Wait, that's it?
I'm confused, who gets the trophy?
- [Announcer 1] I don't think we have to worry about that.
- (chuckling) Look at that.
Oh, I got another word for y'all.
Uh, potluck.
Uh, origin of the word, well that's
southernthing.com/potluck.
Use it in a sentence, I can do that.
Y'all should be joining The Potluck.
It's It's a Southern Thing's membership program,
where you get all kinds of cool stuff
like discounts on merchandise, exclusive swag,
and even a look behind the scenes
on sketches we're making like this'n right here.
So I guess you could hurry up and join,
you know, pretty easy to spell.
P-O-T-L-U-C-K.
Nailed it.