last year there was an article in the NYTimes magazine section about a family from NJ, that home schooled, and had 3 kids who were part of spelling bee (one was now in HS, the other 2 were still 'local' but not national champs.

the daughter was disqualifed in round 3 or 4, the word she missed was gneiss. (sounds like nice) this is a common rock all through out the NY/NJ/Conneticut area.
its pretty rare in manhattan (which is mostly schist, (or more, Sh*t, as we bronx girls learned to say it), while the bronx is gneiss. there are labeled specims of gneiss all over the bronx zoo, (that also labels trees and plants, so if you (compulsively) read every placque, you learn not just about fauna, but flora and terra!) I knew the bronx was gneiss by age 8 or so..
but learned
manhattan is schist,
but the bronx is gneiss,
and NY is not with out its faults!
as an adult.)

i thought it poetic justice.. the girl was home studying spelling, and so she didn't know the rocks in her own back yard.. (and that is the word that tripped her up!)

my other obsession