The Man Behind the Microphone at the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Every year, millions of viewers tune in to watch young spellers battle their way through some of the most obscure and complex words in the English language at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The tension is palpable, the stakes are high, and the words are formidable. But behind every correctly — or incorrectly — spelled word stands a man with an extraordinary relationship with language: Brian Sietsema. As the official pronouncer and linguistic authority for arguably the world's most prestigious spelling competition, Sietsema is the person every competitor depends on to confirm pronunciations and unravel the roots of the words they are given. What makes his story truly captivating, however, is how it all began with a single mysterious word discovered in a childhood garage sale.
A Childhood Encounter That Changed Everything
Brian Sietsema's love of words didn't emerge from a classroom lesson or a formal academic exercise. It was born in the most ordinary of places: a neighborhood garage sale. In third grade, Sietsema arrived at a friend's house with just 50 cents in his pocket, ready to browse whatever treasures he might find. He selected three books that caught his eye, each priced at 50 cents, but his friend's mother told him they were on special and generously sent him home with all three.
Among his new acquisitions was a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories titled Masterpieces of Mystery. When Sietsema's mother saw the book and recognized that it contained macabre tales such as "The Tell-Tale Heart," she told him he would need to wait a few years before reading it. As any curious child would, he started it immediately.
The Word That Started It All: Akimbo
While reading Poe's story "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall," young Sietsema encountered a sentence that stopped him cold. The main character, Pfaall, arrives at the moon in a balloon and describes tumbling into a crowd of people who were "eyeing me and my balloon askant, with their arms set a-kimbo." Sietsema had never seen the word akimbo before — with or without a hyphen — and had no idea what it meant.
He asked his parents. They didn't know. He checked the family dictionary. It wasn't there. He asked his teachers. They were stumped. He scoured the dictionaries in his classroom and the school library. Still nothing. "For years, I didn't know what this word meant," Sietsema has recalled. The experience planted a seed that would grow into a lifelong obsession. There was a word out there — hiding in plain sight inside a famous author's story — that not a single adult in his world could explain to him. It wasn't until he reached college that he finally found a dictionary comprehensive enough to supply the answer: the moon dwellers in Poe's story had simply been standing with their hands on their hips and their elbows pointing outward.
That single word, akimbo, remains Brian Sietsema's favorite word to this day. And it is easy to understand why. It represents the beginning of a journey — a reminder that language is vast, surprising, and always capable of revealing something new.
From Curious Child to Linguistic Authority
The curiosity that drove Sietsema to hunt down the meaning of akimbo never left him. Instead, it deepened into a serious academic and professional pursuit. Sietsema went on to build a career as a linguist, developing an expertise in etymology, pronunciation, and the historical roots of words across multiple languages. His knowledge spans ancient Greek, Latin, and a wide range of classical and modern languages — a skill set that makes him uniquely qualified to handle the demands of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, where spellers routinely ask for language of origin, alternate pronunciations, and definitions of words that most adults have never encountered.
What sets Sietsema apart from a typical language expert is the dual nature of his professional life. He is not only a linguist but also a Greek Orthodox priest — a combination that might seem unusual at first glance but reflects a deeply unified worldview. The study of ancient languages is integral to Greek Orthodox liturgical tradition, and for Sietsema, the sacred and the scholarly are inseparable. His priestly vocation and his linguistic expertise reinforce each other in ways that have shaped his unique approach to words.
Why the Scripps National Spelling Bee Matters
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is more than a competition. It is a celebration of intellectual curiosity, dedication, and the richness of the English language. Competitors, many of whom are children and teenagers, invest hundreds or even thousands of hours studying words from sources as varied as medical terminology, classical mythology, and obscure literary texts. The words they encounter often come from Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic, and many other languages, reflecting the extraordinarily diverse origins of the English lexicon.
- Spellers can request the pronunciation of a word multiple times before attempting to spell it.
- They may ask for the language of origin, which can provide crucial clues about spelling patterns.
- They can request a definition and an example of the word used in a sentence.
- They may ask whether alternate pronunciations or spellings exist.
In all of these moments, Brian Sietsema is the authoritative voice they turn to. His calm, precise responses can mean the difference between advancing to the next round and heading home. The trust placed in him by competitors, parents, coaches, and organizers reflects just how seriously the Bee takes linguistic accuracy.
The Lesson of a Favorite Word
There is something quietly profound about the fact that the favorite word of the Scripps National Spelling Bee's pronouncer is one he spent years unable to define. It speaks to the heart of what makes language so endlessly compelling: no matter how much you know, there is always more to discover. Brian Sietsema's story — from a garage sale in third grade to the microphone at one of America's most watched academic competitions — is a testament to what happens when childhood curiosity is nurtured rather than dismissed. A word like akimbo, overlooked in a family dictionary, became the spark that lit a lifelong flame. And for the thousands of young spellers who have stood nervously at the Bee's microphone over the years, that flame has illuminated the way forward.