‘Resume,’ ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Fiancé’: The Hardest Words for Americans to Spell by Each State
May 30, 2018
Be honest: What’s the last word you Googled how to spell while shielding your phone from judgmental eyes?
Relax — you’re not alone. In a world where autocorrect has effectively eliminated our need to spell-check ourselves, Americans across the nation are misspelling everything from “resume” (we see you, New Yorkers) to “permanent” and a lot of words in between that might make you cringe (in solidarity or in horror).
In honor of this week’s 2018 Scripps National Spelling Bee, in which over 500 students from across the country will compete from May 29 to May 31, Google has compiled a list based on the top searches related to “how to spell” over the last year, reminding us that we are not always, in fact, smarter than a 5th grader.
“Beautiful” takes the cake as the most-searched word across 11 states, despite Jim Carey’s iconic reminder of how to spell it in Bruce Almighty (B-e-a-utiful!)
Here’s a list of the most misspelled words by state this year, according to Google Trends:
Alabama: Cousin
Alaska: Veteran
Arizona: Beautiful
Arkansas: Beautiful
California: Beautiful
Colorado: Resume
Connecticut: Sincerely
Delaware: Decision
Washington, D.C.: Permanent
Florida: Hors d’oeuvre
Georgia: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Hawaii: Grateful
Idaho: Businesses
Illinois: Beautiful
Indiana: Beautiful
Iowa: Vacuum
Kansas: Consequences
Kentucky: Definitely
Louisiana: Favorite
Maine: Connecticut
Maryland: Canceled
Massachusetts: Beautiful
Michigan: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Minnesota: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Mississippi: Gray
Missouri: Sincerely
Montana: Tomorrow
Nebraska: Nocturnal
Nevada: Probably
New Hampshire: Subtle
New Jersey: Resume
New Mexico: Permanently
New York: Resume
North Carolina: Beautiful
North Dakota: Yacht
Ohio: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Oklahoma: Canceled
Oregon: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Pennsylvania: Schedule
Rhode Island: Dying
South Carolina: Beginning
South Dakota: Chaos
Tennessee: Schedule
Texas: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Utah: Beautiful
Vermont: Solution
Virginia: Beautiful
Washington: Beautiful
West Virginia: Apparel
Wisconsin: Beautiful
Wyoming: Fiancé