Batt

The Spelling Bee insulated itself from this word

Today’s New York Times Spelling Bee letters:

B, I, L, T, V, Y, and center A (all words must include A)

Merriam-Webster says…

Silly little dictionary! Don’t you know batt can’t possibly be a word if the New York Times says it ain’t?

For further fascinating facts, check out the Spelling Bee Master.

What’s your favorite dord* from today’s puzzle?

My Two Cents

Considering that batt, or batting is used in most homes across the United States today, it’s an odd choice for the Spelling Bee to have put this term on the “Not in word list”. And because the rules of the game don’t allow for words shorter than four letters, the “single t” bat isn’t accepted either.

Lowercase b

Merriam-Webster explains that the word batt developed as a respelling of bat, in part as a back-formation from batting. Its first known use is believed to be around 1847.

Historically, a batt known as bombast, consisting of horsehair, flock, bran, wool, rags, or cotton, was used to give the required bulk to certain Western European dress items — men’s trunk hose and women’s trunk or cannon sleeves — around the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Padding is specifically called batt when used as a layer of lining in quilts or as a packaging or material. I’m not an authority on batts, so I’m not sure if jockstrap and bra stuffing qualify. I doubt the infamous shoulder pads of the 1980s do, either.

The other generalized (and probably better-known) use of batt is as a term for insulation material. It can both refer to one type of insulation or the form in which some insulation materials come in.

The Home Depot says that fiberglass, cellulose, and foam are the most commonly used insulation materials. But although fiberglass comes in batts, cellulose and foam do not (foam insulation can be sprayed or installed in rigid foamboards.). As the store website explains:

Batt insulation is a type of insulation blanket. These are pre-cut sections of insulation that are usually fiberglass, although cellulose, mineral wool, natural fibers and plastic versions are also available. [It’s] best for unfinished walls, floors and ceilings… Designed for easy handling and use between framing, such as studs and joists, making it among the best insulation for walls… Installed in pieces…One of the most affordable types of insulation… Available either with or without paper or aluminum foil facing. Facing helps prevent interior heat from escaping and water vapor from passing through the insulation. [One must] install the batt so that the facing is the exposed side.

I only handled the type of bat with a single “t”. So I guess I’ll have to trust Home Depot on this one.

Uppercase B

I found quite a number of Batts with a capital B. Here are a few of them.

• The Battalion — often referred to as The Batt —is the student newspaper of Texas A&M University. It began in 1893 as a monthly publication and later changed to a weekly format. In 2008 and 2019 the newspaper won the National Pacemaker Award, given annually since 1927 for excellence in American student journalism.
• Batt is also the nickname of Bartholomew O’Keeffe, a former politician of the conservative and Christian-democratic Irish party Fianna Fáil, whose name means “Soldiers of Destiny”. O’Keeffe started his political career as a Teachta Dála (member of the lower house of the Irish Parliament) from 1987 to 1989 and from 1992 to 2011. He sandwiched a term as Senator for the Labour Panel between then. He also held several cabinet positions before retiring in 2011.
• Batt Reef is a coral reef off Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia, and forms part of the larger Great Barrier Reef. The area where Batt Reef is located received a lot of media attention after Steve Irwin, star of The Crocodile Hunter was killed in September of 2006 while filming an underwater documentary.
• B.A.T.T. is an acronym that stands for Bad Ass Translate Trading, a professional wrestling stable led by Keiji Mutoh. B.A.T.T. competed in both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling from 2001 to 2002. I know nothing about Japanese wrestling, but I love what the acronym stands for, which sounds like a bad translation of something into English.
• And finally, Batt was the surname of a cricket player who made one appearance in 1827 for the team known as the Gentlemen against a team known as the Players. Other than his last name, no biographical information is known. Which makes one wonder if perhaps the person who recorded the game for posterity misspelled the word “bat” at some point, and the typo somehow became the name of a player.

Despite all the preponderant evidence presented in today’s column, the editors of the Spelling Bee decided that batt should remain a dord*.

You can check out my previous entry on another dord* here:

*What the heck is a dord, you ask? Here’s the answer: