Twelve-year-old Ananya Vinay became the most recent winner of Scripps National Spelling Bee, after successfully spelling 35 words correctly. Calm until the very end, she clinched the title with the word “marocain” — which is a type of dress fabric of ribbed crepe, for those keeping track.
But she had more trouble keeping up with current events.
On CNN’s “New Day” on Friday, Ananya was stumped by anchors Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo when they asked her to spell covfefe, the Twitter typo made by President Trump this week that quickly went viral.
Who can figure out the true meaning of “covfefe” ??? Enjoy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
Ananya did not give in easily, and asked for the language of origin and part of speech because venturing a guess: C-O-F-E-F-E.
The anchors dubbed it good enough for a win.
Ananya, from Fresno, California, beat out 291 other spellers in the spelling bee. This is the first time in three years that the bee declared a sole winner, reported the Chicago Tribune. For her accomplishment, Ananya will take home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
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