Google Trends Again Reveals Each State’s Most Misspelled Word

By Joseph Myers

We all like to pride ourselves on being multi-taskers, but being a spelling extraordinaire cannot be among everyone’s skillset. In conjunction with the 92nd staging of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Google Trends has again revealed which words cause the most misery for the masses, with “beautiful” yet again emerging as the one that drives the most internet searches.

As the competition transpires through Thursday, children from around the country will need to string together the right letters for some anxiety-inducing words, so we mere mortals who might struggle with common utterances should be happy that we are not still kids. Google Trends, however, is not letting our alphabet worries go unaddressed, again providing the nation with each state’s most perplexing word. And, well, some of the victors are head-scratchers.

The #spellingbee starts soon! Here is a #map of America's top spelling searches for 2019.#spelling #DataViz pic.twitter.com/cel2IAMXcV

— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) May 24, 2019

Promo Marketing has twice looked at Americans’ battles to be proofreading whizzes, so we are again wondering how “beautiful” manages to be such an ugly word to tackle. The word topped the list in eight states, which is actually down from 11 last year. So maybe people are catching on and realizing that we need to drop the “y” and add an “i” in assigning “beauty” an adjective form. We would like to think that change is what confuses people and not the string of three vowels or the belief that the ending consists of a double “l.” Whatever the reason, “beautiful” makes many wince, but, hey, at least people are trying to be positive when looking for adjectives, right?

Speaking of that figure of speech, we also saw that our fellow Americans botch, among others, “patient” (Arizona) and “embarrassed” (Idaho), two words that the whole spelling realm could cause someone to be. It could be quite an interesting study to look at the qualities of the words, including length, silent letters and common usage, to see what trips people up about them and what they can do to solve those problems. It could be equally compelling to “guess” (sorry, not sorry, Maine residents) why certain words are even popular in particular states. What, for example, is going on in Louisiana that “indict” tops the list, and why are we folks here in Pennsylvania unable to breath calmly, figuratively speaking, of course, when it’s time to spell “pneumonia”?

No matter one’s “opinion” (greetings, Wisconsin residents!) on the matter, the “message” (Rhode Island) is clear. Proper spelling does not reside in a “grey” (Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington) area of professionalism. That becomes especially clear when businesses are advocating for clients through the distribution of materials. A misspelled word could hurt a company’s reputation among its base and lead to the loss of one’s “preferred” (Alaska) status as a business partner.

We're far from perfect, and this Google Trends list, like its predecessors, reminds us that it is always in our best “benefit” (Vermont) to treat spelling and proofreading as “important” (Utah) elements of business exchanges. Companies are always tinkering with how they can acquire and sustain distinction, and this look at misspellings reiterates that while clients “appreciate” (Nevada) the legwork that goes toward making their campaigns great, they might let a partner “loose” (Iowa) if even one letter is out of place.