THE question for NSW voters: Is it time to give Nathan Rees a spell? The critical question yesterday, however, was posed by the Premier himself: How does one spell the word caricature?
Our much-caricatured state leader asked this not of voters but of Jordan Powell, who thinks Mr Rees is "nice". Sadly, Jordan is not of voting age. He is 10.
Jordan triumphed over 32 other year 3 and 4 finalists in the junior section of the Premier's Spelling Bee yesterday.
For the final round, Mr Rees took the podium. He presented the finalists with their words to spell. He also pronounced them, so denunciation became "duh-nun-see-ay-shuhn".
And, helpfully, the Premier added a sentence. "His angry denunciation of the government was heard by many at the rally," Mr Rees said, plausibly.
Other words in the final round: lingerie, gingivitis, delicatessen, mezzanine, suffragette and the cruel word that beat the runner-up, Grace Sneddon from Nabiac Public, effeminate.
Jordan didn't miss a beat with caricature. "Ka-ruh-kuh-choouh," Mr Rees enunciated, adding, "The caricature of the politician emphasised his bushy eyebrows."
One suspects Mr Rees was alluding to a former prime minister. If he meant himself, he would have said it "emphasised his sad-clown, inverted-Joker, study-in-humility grimace".
In any case, Jordan was impressed with Mr Rees. "I liked his stripy red tie," he said.
Uncontroversial - so far. But Mr Rees was wise not to stick around for the afternoon's senior final, for years 5 and 6, when it became what the Premier might pronounce con-tra-ver-shul.
A lot rides on these finals. The contest began with 71,000 primary school students across the state. These were whittled down to 2400 in regional spelling bees. And yesterday, 32 junior and 32 senior finalists assembled at the ABC's Sydney studios.
It is a sudden-death contest. One misplaced letter and you're out, kid. Round after round, each child approaches the microphone to be given a new word. The degree of difficulty is random, sometimes brutal.
The final round of seniors was scheduled to battle it out at 5.30 last night - live on air on 702 on Richard Glover's drive show.
The 32 seniors started bravely. All survived the first round. But the words became harder with each round: glockenspiel, dichotomy, axolotl, sacrilege and, wait for it, hyperbole!
In round seven they fell like, well, anemones. (Even the singular form was tragically misspelt.) Only nine spellers were left standing at the start of round eight. All got their first word right.
But suddenly, a massacre.
Eight spellers, one after the other, misspelt their word: androgynous, camaraderie, raconteur, chauvinist, perspicacious, obstreperous, miso- gynistic, cabriolet.
That left one man standing - Mitchell Rowett, 12, from Bundanoon Public. Mitchell approached the microphone. His word? Onomatopoeia.
Mitchell took his time. "O-N-O-M,"' he began, then paused. "A-T," he resumed. A long breath: "O-P." Another long pause before a clean round-off: "O-E-I-A."
"Correct," came the reply. The hall erupted.
But there was a problem. It was only 3.30pm. The winner had already been decided. It was unheard of. Ahem. The Channel Seven sports announcer Gordon Bray took the microphone.
"So much for our live show at 5.30," he said. Time for a short break while the adjudicators decided what to do.
At 5.30, Glover went live to air, but only to decide the runners-up. Felicity Cheng, 11, of Abbotsford Public, came second, finishing with ophthalmologist. Kevin Ly, 10, of St Johns Park Primary, came third, falling out with a rogue "n" in sycophant.