Ah, the spelling bee. I have such fond memories of getting super competitive over the spelling of "dinosaur," "bureau," and "cousin" among other words. Those bees were some of the better moments of my school career. They were just FUN.

Oddly enough, watching them is really fun, too. Even now when I am a grown-up, I love to see kids spell words. The tension is high, the sense of competition is thick, and the whole thing is just a blast. One of the better YouTube videos of all time has captured all that tension.

A boy of about 12 is asked to spell the word "Heron." It's a simple word, but his tortured questioning of the presenter is both hilarious and kind of disturbing. See for yourself:

The video has gone viral and with good reason. It's just funny! The question, of course, is whether or not this little fumble is on purpose.

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If it was something he did intentionally to flub up the presenter, then he is a genius and I fell for it, too. If it wasn't intentional, then he is great to have such a good sense of humor about himself. Honestly, to my eyes, it could go either way.

What I do love, though, are the blogs calling him out for being stupid. If he planned this, then he is a genius. If he didn't, he still got the word right! Is making fun of a little kid really the wisest thing to do? Does that seem unnecessarily cruel to anyone besides me?

The fact is, this kid is awesome either way and he made me laugh to boot.

Good on him! That's G-O-O-D. Boo-ya!

Did you think he did this on purpose?

 

Image via /YouTube