In celebration of the 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, Google thought it would be fun to point out how much of the United States wouldn't last in even a preliminary round of the spelling contest.
Creating a map from Google Trends data, each state was marked with the word it most commonly searches for after the phrase, "how do I spell." The results were head-slappingly simple, with gimmes like "vacuum" and "February" being the bane of certain states.
Some words were common among multiple states, such as "desert" - the arid location seemingly confused with the post-dinner treat across Idaho, California, Indiana, and Connecticut.
Other terms were a unique hassle for a state, such as Hawaii having spelling trouble with "boutineer" - that flower thing awkwardly pinned onto lapels at prom. Other examples include Mississippi's trouble with "sergeant," and Alaska's with "Hawaii." Go figure.
Some words we can sympathize needing to turn to Google for, such as clarifying "gray" and "canceled" from their UK counterparts, "grey" and "cancelled."
However, seeing Ohio struggle with "banana," or Massachusetts needing to look up its own name, are a little more on the embarrassing side.
Meanwhile, we're certain each term on Google's map is a breeze for the competitors at this year's National Spelling Bee, who apparently have the cool to throw in some dabs after successfully spelling tough entries like "bacteriolytic" and "mischsprache."
