I come from a devout Scrabble-playing family. When I was a girl my mom was my spelling idol; she won that game every single time she played. Her magic weapon? QAT...a short little "q" word that does not need a "u." Time after time I'd watch her school her opponent and many times that was the word that I remember shooting her ahead. I pretty much had a love affair with that word until the middle of 2nd grade.
In 2nd grade I was in a combination class with six 2nd graders and around fifteen 3rd graders. My teacher was Mrs. Cummings and at the time I held teachers in pretty high esteem. She was the first to tarnish that image for me.
Every once in awhile Mrs. Cummings would let us have a vocabulary challenge. Two students were chosen and given a whole day to think of a word that would stump the class. I have no idea what the reward was for winning, but I was confident when I finally got to have my turn.
Without thinking twice I came to class knowing I was going to win. I was pitted against 3rd grader Brian Fisher and I don't think I even heard him say his word for the class. How important could it be? With uncharacteristic boldness (I was a pretty shy child) I told that combination class that my word was "QAT! Q-A-T" Stunned, dumbfounded faces. Of course nobody knew that one! Even Mrs. Cummings' expression portrayed silent stupefication. Then my confidence started melting away.
Mrs. Cummings said she'd never heard that word before. Was I sure I hadn't forgotten the "u"? She asked what I thought it was and I proclaimed, "It's an evergreen tree!" She was still less than sure. She suggested we look it up in the dictionary. I wasn't worried-my mom's red dictionary definitely had that word in there. I'd look it up lots of times.
The classroom dictionary pages started turning. The "q" section was located and the page turned back and forth, fingers scrolled up and down. More than once. Back and forth again. No "qat." Anywhere. Mrs. Cummings declared that my word was not a word and 3rd grader Brian Fisher was declared the winner. In an instant my mom became smarter than my teacher. And of the few memories I have of that combination-class year, being ignorantly stripped of my title as vocabulary challenge winner stands out as though it had happened only yesterday.
(I just looked "qat" up in the dictionary again and discovered that while "an evergreen tree" is a loosely correct interpretation, it's actually the leaves of a middle-eastern plant used to make narcotic stimulants. Maybe it's a good thing Mrs. Cummings didn't look into it further and call to ask my mom some questions...)
6 comments:
haha, this is awesome! Of course Mom's always know best! I may have to use this word when I play words with friends on my phone! LOL
That is hilarious! If I had told my parents what that teacher did they probably would have stormed into her office demanding I be declared the winner, lol!
Too bad they did not have internet to look the words up. I am sure that would be the way to go now days.
New follower on GFC. Stopping by from Sit & Relax Weekend hop.
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haha...great story!! I love Scrabble. I'm a new follower from the Sit and Relax weekend hop. If you would like to visit with me I'm at http:oldermommystillyummy.blogspot.com/
Monica
Great story. Although, I'm probably going to look it up right now! LOL I was in a second grade/third grade combination class, too! I was at a private school. I guess they didn't have enough students to make extra whole 2nd or 3rd grade classes.
Michelle, those seem like very small odds! I was in public school, with too many second graders for one class and not enough for two. My only other memory of that class year is a girl throwing up during standardized testing.
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