Today a select group of the world’s wordiest tweens take the stage at the annual lexicon smackdown known as the National Spelling Bee. Almost 300 students will spend the next two days at the Grand Hyatt on H St. competing in written and oral tests of their spelling skills, culminating in Thursday’s final round, to be aired nationwide on ABC. The Examiner has a profile of one of the circuit’s best-known competitors, facing his final shot at the brass ring this year. Like Samir Patel, many of the bee’s most serious contenders are home schooled, including my all-time favorite word wizard, Rebecca Sealfon, shown above in a moment of pure spellation winning the 1997 bee.

Since then, competitive spelling has gotten the star treatment in popular culture with the definitive documentary, Spellbound, and the fictionalized film adaptations of Bee Season and Akeelah and the Bee. For adults accustomed to reliance on ubiquitous spellchecks, an up-to-the-minute word list is available online.

So if like me, you smugly think yourself pretty loquacious, get ready to be humbled by kids who aren’t wasting their life with Super Mario Brothers and little league. Semifinals air on ESPN 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, with ABC’s prime-time coverage beginning at 8 p.m.