National spelling bee champ stumped on word, but then again, so are the rest of us
The country’s newest spelling bee champ, Ananya Vinay, is very lucky that this word didn’t come up during competition — because she can’t spell it.
She’s forgiven, though, since apparently only a “small group of people” knows what “covfefe” even means.
President Trump used it in a tweet shortly after midnight on Wednesday: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”
By early morning the viral tweet was gone, replaced by this tease:
Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
“The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” press secretary Sean Spicer later insisted.
Ananya wasn’t one of them.
On Friday, the morning after the 12-year-old from Fresno, Calif., won the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee, Ananya appeared on CNN’s “New Day.”
Hosts Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo told the unsuspecting sixth-grader they had a challenge for her and asked her to spell “covfefe.”
“Definition please,” she asked like the champ that she is.
“The definition is a nonsense word made up by the 45th president of the United States in a late-night tweet,” Camerota said.
“Language of origin,” Ananya said with a little giggle.
“Gibberish,” the hosts said.
Still stumped, Ananya asked: “Part of speech?”
Noun. Verb. Insult. Camerota and Cuomo said it could be any of those things.
And then the girl who correctly spelled “gifblaar,” “tschefuncte,” “gesith,” “cecidomyia” and finally “marocain” to become the best speller in the land gave it a go.
“C-O-F-E-F-E.”
“Good enough!” Cuomo exclaimed. “That’s the only good answer we’ve heard about that word in days.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2017 at 11:17 AM with the headline "National spelling bee champ stumped on word, but then again, so are the rest of us."