A few months ago I entered an adult spelling bee at the local library with a coworker. I was fulfilling a childhood dream of always wanting to participate in a spelling bee (idk why my community never had them growing up). We pulled numbers to determine the order in which we went. I pulled the number 1 card so I was first up. The woman looked me dead in the eyes and said spell “Will-Duh” (I’m giving the word to you phonetically so you know exactly how she pronounced it). Easy enough I thought, “W-I-L-L-E-D”, “I’m sorry that is incorrect”. I was completely dumbfounded, what other way is there to spell “Will-Duh”. She moves onto the next contestant with the same word who, noticing my plight, says “can you use it in a sentence?”, “to Wil-Duh a sword”. I realize with sudden horror that the word she is meaning to pronounce is “wield”, “W-I-E-L-D” says my opponent. “Correct” announces the woman. I am officially out of the spelling bee on the first word of the first round, crushing my childhood ambitions.
TLDR; The woman announcing the local adult spelling bee had a strong southern accent and therefore pronounced “wield” as “willed” and I made the mistake of not asking her to use it in a sentence.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Always ask for the word to be used in a sentence and NEVER announce a spelling bee if you have a strong accent.