Jason Bateman stars in and makes his directorial debut this weekend with Bad Words, a comedy about a jerk of human being who enters the nerdiest of nerd competitions, the spelling bee.
Along with chess tournaments, science fairs and mathletics, the spelling bee stands as a playing field for the brightest young minds of today. It also happens to work incredibly well as a cauldron for cooking up insecurity and awkwardness among Asian adolescents. In celebration of Bateman’s Bad Words, here are a few “bad words” that helped to produce some of the most awkward moments in spelling bee history.
“Heron.”
“Could you repeat the word for the 20th time, please?”
N-U-M-B-N-U-T-S?
Any kid that’s made it to at least the 5th grade knows has a familiarity with the word “numbnuts.” Now spelling “numnah” is where things can get confusing.
“Sardoodledom.”
Somethings in life are just a given. Van Halen with Diamond Dave will always win over Sammy Hagar. And “Sardoodledom” will always be funnier than “eucalyptus.”
Tread lightly.
I would have flipped over the podium and ran out of the auditorium, but the kid sticks it out and spells the word correctly, shocking himself more than anyone. And in keeping with YouTube tradition, the comments on this video get predictably racist three comments in. *facepalm*
Blackout.
Part of me thinks this kid just isn’t cut out for competition and the other part of me thinks he was just trolling the entire audience.
