Fun With Proofreading: Google Trends Reveals Each State's Most Misspelled Word

Spelling can spell trouble for even the most conscientious word lovers among us, and since so many of our behaviors have become common knowledge in a society driven by curiosity, it figures that our gaffes when linking letters together would come to be a topic of fixation for the folks at Google Trends. As they did last year (and coinciding with the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee), the public web facility’s personnel unveiled a map with each state’s most misspelled word, and the leading mistakes show that there are plenty of Americans who are often in complementary moods and many citizens who have an affinity for “Mary Poppins.”

Having compiled its findings based on web users’ top “how to spell” searches, Google Trends proved, to call Alexander Pope to mind, that to err is most certainly human. While none of the confusion causers would stump the precocious contestants looking to be letter perfect through tomorrow’s Oxon Hill, Maryland-situated bee, we mere mortals “definitely” struggle to be flawless and will “probably” benefit from the examination of our spelling shortcomings.

Along with the map, which is a great resource if one is interested in seeing whether particular words tend to stump people with geographic proximity, interested letter arrangers can consult an alphabetical list by People. Either resource reveals that inhabitants of 11 states, including California, have an ugly time spelling “beautiful.” But that selection warms our hearts, no matter how badly our fellow Americans butcher it, because that means people are at least trying to fawn over their acquaintances and loved ones, and, hey, it’s still the thought that counts.

Are these America's most misspelled words? Check out the top 'how to spell' searches by state, just in time for the #spellingbee 2018 finals.#dataviz #maps pic.twitter.com/uTb7ynYcv5

— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 29, 2018

There are some interesting miscues on the list and one that, like the “beautiful” mention, can lead to some compelling observations. For starters, why are so many residents of Maine writing about “Connecticut”? Are they pondering moves to the fellow New England state, or do they marvel over how it breaks down into “connect,” “I” and “cut”? (That’s probably just our raging nerdiness taking over.) Iowans are either desiring to be tidier or are lacking comprehension of physics fundamentals, as “vacuum” troubles them.

We wonder how tardy our contemporaries in Pennsylvania are, along with the denizens of Tennessee, as they are late bloomers when it comes to spelling “schedule” correctly. We are also convinced that Mississippians have a thing for “Fifty Shades of Grey,” as “gray” darkened their prospects for being proficient spellers. Disney always figures to captivate the masses, and the behemoth must have been on the minds of the occupants of six states, as “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” the title of a tune from 1964’s “Mary Poppins,” stumped them.

Many of these misspellings will inspire incredulous reactions while others will have people saying, “I can’t spell that either.” All of them, though, remind us that proofreading, a huge element of the promotional products realm, will never lose appeal, especially if we are tackling “apparel,” which the good folks in West Virginia have trouble stitching together properly.

Which words among the Google Trends finds vex you? We would like to know!

“Sincerely,”

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