Did Arvind Mahankali spell ‘knaidel’ correctly or not? The problem lies not with Yiddish, the New York Times or a 13-year-old boy. Philologos says it is the English language.
Arvind Mahankali, the 13-year-old Indian-American winner of this year’s National Spelling Bee, may have never noshed on a ‘knaidel.’ But he sure knows how to spell the Yiddish word.
An Indian American boy from New York won a national spelling contest thanks to his ability to correctly spell the word knaidel, a Yiddish-derived word for a traditional Jewish dumpling.