Mr. Milchick Congratulates Scripps National Spelling Bee Finalists

Mr. Milchick, your word is “approbation.”

Ahead of the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) from the Apple TV+ series Severance sent a surprise video to the contestants, encouraging their efforts to tackle the dictionary’s big words, much like he does on the Lumon severed floor — whether or not the Board likes it.

Oh man, now I have to transcribe this message for you. No pressure.

“Octonocular. Breviloquence. Aioli,” Tillman says in front of a green screen projecting the fictitious and mysterious company’s Macrodata Refinement office. “On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, a hearty congratulations to all the spellers who have exhibited extraordinary orthographic prowess and etymological rigor. For that, we are exultant. E-x-u-l-t-a-n-t. Exultant. Congratulations!”

Now we’re going to Google all of those words, like:

Octonocular, adjective: “having eight eyes.” Formed from the Latin root “octo” (meaning eight) and the Latin root “oculus” (meaning eye), combined with the suffix “-cular.”

And:

Breviloquence, noun: the act of speaking briefly and concisely. The opposite of being loquacious (talkative). As an adjective: using few words, concise, and to the point.

Man, we really should have taken Latin in high school.

“Aioli” is a cold Mediterranean sauce that consists of garlic and olive oil emulsion. If you don’t know “emulsion,” well, the spelling bee — and this story — is probably not for you anyway.

“In Severance, Mr. Milchik’s character embraces language as a powerful tool for articulating himself,” Adam Harman, the senior vice president of content & programming at the E.W. Scripps Company, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Who better than the Scripps National Spelling Bee to celebrate love of language and big words?”

Yeah, it was a pretty smooth collab. The 100th edition of the Scripps National Spelling Bee will crown a winner tonight at 8 p.m. ET live on the Ion Television Network.

Watch the Milchick video below.