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Scherenschnitte
No, it’s not a curse word
Fun
Story
In 2015, a girl found herself head to head with a boy in the
fi
nal
round of a spelling competition. The tension in the room was
palpable as they both awaited the
fi
nal word they needed to spell:
scherenschnitte
There was huge pressure on her, because it was her
fi
fth try, and the
fi
nal one at that because of the competition’s strict limits on age.
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Scherenschnitte
No, it’s not a curse word
Fun
Story
The girl’s name is
Vanya
and it is slavic in origin. In Russia, it’s the diminutive form (or
nickname) for the boy’s name Ivan (note: not Ivanka). Ivan is Russia’s
equivalent of John, and if her parents were not US immigrants and if
she were born a boy, her nickname would have been Johnny.
(Hey Vanya from the EDGE team!)
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Scherenschnitte
No, it’s not a curse word
Fun
Story
Now it so happens that the girl loved the patterns of the German
language, particularly its fascinating pattern of combining root
words to create compound words.
She was captivated by how these combinations in
fl
uenced the
meanings and spellings of newly formed compound words.
In her mind, she began the process of breaking down the
compound word into its individual root words.
4. http://edgebuildings.com
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Scherenschnitte
No, it’s not a curse word
Fun
Story
scherenschnitte
schere
means scissors
schnitte
means cut
German term that denotes
the art of creating intricate
patterns by carefully cutting
paper with scissors.
The name is as intricate as the art itself.
On the right, yes, that’s the name for it.
Photo by Leslie Seaton
5. http://edgebuildings.com
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Scherenschnitte
No, it’s not a curse word
Fun
Story
She spelled it: s-c-h-e-r-e-n-s-c-h-n-i-t-t-e
In the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee, widely regarded as one
of the most prestigious and competitive spelling bees in the US,
Vanya Shivashankar
the daughter of Indian immigrants, went home a champion*.
*Co-champions—the boy, whose name is Gokul Venkatachalam, is also of Indian origin
