Language is always changing. During informal conversation, words shift meaning and new words emerge; thus, slang is born and bred.

The University’s first and only African honor society, Abeneefoo Kuo (ABK) – Swahili for “Circle of Honor” – will play with this concept of colloquial language in its program “ReDefine Cool: A Twist on the Original Spelling Bee.”

“We just wanted to try something different and fun, that’s why it’s called ‘ReDefine Cool.’ We did not want just another random spelling bee,” said Bridgette Burton, ABK president.

The program is part of an effort to donate books in support of world literacy and environmentalism. Proceeds from the program will fund ABK’s pumpkin carving activity with children at the Athens Area Homeless Shelter later in the week. Proceeds will also go toward buying supplies for ABK’s arts and crafts project with a local nursing home.

Dr. Leroy Ervin and Dr. Ron McFadden founded ABK in 1977 as an honor society for African-Americans where students would be encouraged to strive for academic excellence and pursue further education.

“[The bee] will be fulfilling ABK’s way of education. It’ll be a fun way of dealing with education. I just hope people aren’t laughing at me [if I'm having trouble spelling words]. It’s supposed to be fun,” said Jewelin Patulot, a senior who will represent the Kappa Delta Epsilon Education Honor Society.

Some other organizations participating in the Bee include the Black Theatrical Ensemble, the newly-formed Sigma Alpha Pi National Political Science Honor Society, the Arch Society and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority.

Salini Lakshmanan, a junior from Stone Mountain, will be representing Zeta Phi Beta.

“I expect to do very well because I’m a really particular speller. My mom raised me to spell correctly and read books. I [often] correct others in their spelling. Slang is my only issue,” Lakshmanan said.

Slang is mostly regional and is a way of making people feel closer to one another by sharing language unique to a location, said Ashley Deas, ABK vice president.

“Living in the South, I feel it’s kind of inevitable to use [slang]. I know a lot of songs with slang. Hearing it gives people [who are unfamiliar] insight into other cultures,” Deas said.

Courtney Jones-Stevens, a senior from Atlanta representing the Arch Society, encouraged opposing teams to read their dictionaries. After being knocked out in the first couple of rounds in a spelling bee in the third grade, Jones-Stevens said she’s smarter now and more familiar with phonetics.

Deas, who will be serving as mistress of ceremonies at the Bee, wondered whether growing reliance on “spell check” technology is a handicap.

“If you took some time to [actually] think about it, could you really spell as many words without it? I know I can’t,” she said.

Text Box:

What: ReDefine Cool: A Twist on the Original Spelling Bee

When: Tonight, 7 p.m.

Where: Fine Arts 300 (Balcony theatre)

Cost: Free