Comments on: U.S. State Names Kids Misspell

By: Toke

Toke — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:22:10 +0000

What about Rhode Island?

I can see a kid spelling “Road” Island.

By: i cant decide on a good name

i cant decide on a good name — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:32:24 +0000

unrelated FAIL

By: i cant decide on a good name

i cant decide on a good name — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:31:18 +0000

WIN

By: misschipz33

misschipz33 — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:21:45 +0000

Fail

By: Stotan1228

Stotan1228 — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:06:14 +0000

I don’t see how kids can’t spell Wyoming. I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never heard of anyone having trouble with it.

By: AQuickAlias

AQuickAlias — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:44:19 +0000

That was beautiful.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:37:46 +0000

Massachusetts is easy, but maybe that’s just because I live in Maine (thus, Maine is also very easy for me to spell). I’ve always been a great speller, but Connecticut, Tennessee, Illinois and Pennsylvania always used to trip me up. So when we had our state name tests in 5th grade, I studied for hours just so I could get them all right. But thanks to that, it was much easier for me to learn the correct spelling of all the states AND their corresponding capitals.

By: bfordc

bfordc — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:07:33 +0000

Based on the average American kid’s knowledge, I’m guessing that at least 25 of the remaining 46 states will be at the “I’ve never even heard of that one” line. Hell, what am I saying? Not just kids, all Americans.

By: me

me — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:55:54 +0000

lol this was very funny cause im in Massachusetts! XD

By: Alexa

Alexa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:22:24 +0000

I mean a C between the E and the first T…of course connecticut has a c in it…double fail.

By: Alexa

Alexa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:21:31 +0000

CONNECTICUT HAS A C IN IT??

Jeez, I never knew that. And I lived in the US for two years. Wow, fail on me…

By: Beefus

Beefus — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:37:01 +0000

Wyoming needs to be up in the “I’ve never even heard of that one.” section… when I say I’m from Wyoming I usually get “What state’s that in?”

By: kujmous

kujmous — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:47:13 +0000

I sent this graph to my Bostonian friend. She says Massachusetts is easy. “It’s spelled how it sounds.”

By: jjmblue7

jjmblue7 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:57:08 +0000

Not to mention many people add in a silent E between the final T and S.

By: jjmblue7

jjmblue7 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:51:30 +0000

It’s a little tricky because the name sounds like it belongd in both the “-ain” word family and the “-ane” word family, when it really belongs to neither, thus confusing young children.

By: JulianKingOfNothing

JulianKingOfNothing — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:23:36 +0000

Are you from tennessee, cuz you’re the only ten I see ..

fail, ima go punish myself now

By: Basara549

Basara549 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:33:21 +0000

Connecticut is easy – just remember “Connect I Cut”

By: Basara549

Basara549 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:30:40 +0000

No, I’m not saying that – it’s just that outside of the TVA region (I live near the Cumberland, myself), no one seems to notice that the Tennessee River exists, except to try to sabotage power plant construction.

By: nivadias

nivadias — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:21:38 +0000

nice touch on the bars colors.

By: Elfinugget

Elfinugget — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:10:43 +0000

I lived in New Hampshire for quite a while (Yes, that’s “ham-P-shire”, wtf extra consonants!)

A coworker used to put apostrophes in every word that ended with an S.

Including, but not at all limited to: Massachusett’s.

By: My ass

My ass — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:12:42 +0000

This is truth.

By: InconspicuousBarrel

InconspicuousBarrel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:00:44 +0000

The only one here that I find true is Massachusetts, and it’s more in the, “I can probably spell that” category. Mississippi is very true though!

By: Ru

Ru — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:36:37 +0000

M-I-crookedletter-crookedletter-I-crookedletter-crookedletter-I-humpback-humpback-I

… is the way I was taught it. And why Mrs. Criggs thought that was easier to remember than the letters is beyond me.

Though I suppose there’s something to be said for the fact that I do still remember it.

By: Mina

Mina — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:11:57 +0000

I’m from MS too and was taught that in pre-k. To this day when I have to spell Mississippi I sing the little song while I’m writing/typing it out.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:50:23 +0000

Well, I know that my parents taught it to me in the early 90′s and they were taught by their parents back in the early 50′s, which means that their parents had to know back in the 10′s & 20′s. It has to go WAY back! (born and raised in MS)

By: slupine

slupine — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:39:36 +0000

Actually part of why Mississippi is easier for kids to remember how to spell than Tennessee is because when you rattle off the letters you can push it into a very catchy rhythm. I seem to remember annoying my parents by repeating it over and over almost in singsong fashion…

Tennessee just doesn’t have quite the same rhythmic quality when you spell it aloud.

By: leo0603

leo0603 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:26:02 +0000

the graph title is “US State Names Kids Misspell”, and its showing Mississippi as something easy to spell.. so it shouldnt be on the graph, or the graph name should be different
but i loved the graph, even though i’m not an us citizen

By: snuzzled

snuzzled — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:55:20 +0000

Living in Connecticut myself, I find it hard to believe anyone could misspell it or Massachusetts. Then again, I’ve had almost a quarter century of practice with the names, and am quite good at spelling in general.

By: Spike Page

Spike Page — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:43:28 +0000

LOL about Massachusetts. When I was a very little kid I called it “Mash-a-two-sh*ts” and was forever in trouble.

As for Mississippi….I’d love to know just how old the crooked-letter and humpback spelling method is. My spouse swears he’s never heard of it… and blames it on my being from Alabama.

By: tadpole

tadpole — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:41:09 +0000

What’s so hard about Wyoming? But I guess I get a leg up on that one because I went to kindergarten in Wyoming, haha.
I always messed up Connecticut and Massachusetts. Rhode Island and California can be tricky for the young’uns too.

By: Kevin T.

Kevin T. — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:20:14 +0000

I’m still not very good at spelling Massachusettes.

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:12:33 +0000

Connecticut just sounds like a landline and broadband provider. First time I heard of it was on The X Files and I laughed like a drain for weeks that there is an actual place called Connecticut.

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:28:06 +0000

I took a test on that a couple days ago, I got Massachusetts and Maine right and Connecticut wrong.
Connecticut is full of sneaky letters.

By: eee

eee — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:29:22 +0000

Connecticut’s sneaky C messed me up for YEARS – on how to spell Massachusetts!! Somehow I got the two states mixed up and thought that Mass. was the one with the stealth consonant, so I spelled it “Massachutsetts” until I was like 30.

Similarly, because of the N in “condemn” I spent several years mentioning various “dilemnas” I was having.

I am an excellent speller overall, but when I do screw up, it’s always a humdinger.

By: NP

NP — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:38:53 +0000

Miss Pell was the name of my geography teacher.

By: Chass

Chass — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:21:18 +0000

I totally live at the end of the Tennessee river.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:46:18 +0000

Connecticut should be in there too.

Totally agree with Massachusetts. Hell, I live in that state and sometimes I have to think about how many S’s and T’s there are.

By: muddah

muddah — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:41:52 +0000

Ill-annoy? Illunoi? Illinois…the “s” is silent. Dad-gum high-falootin’ Illanoizians! An’ don’ git me started on that Chik-a-goo! “Shicawgo” my patootie…ya’d think that Du Sable fellow was a Frenchie! Oh wait, he was.

By: Private_Danza

Private_Danza — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:30:30 +0000

You’re saying Tennessee ist not a state and a river?

By: catgal

catgal — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:33:16 +0000

yeah, i think it took me longer to learn to spell Connecticut than Massachusetts when i was in elementary school

By: NP

NP — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:33:08 +0000

Connect? I cut!

By: Jayson

Jayson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:22:21 +0000

You forgot Connecticut! There’s a C in the MIDDLE!

WTF?

By: Basara

Basara — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:11:30 +0000

(Mississippi abbreviated MS below, to save time and prevent dyslexia fails)

Because there are real words spelled “mane” and “main”, for them to confuse it with. “Maine” has both double vowels AND a silent “e” at the end, either one that, by the simplified grammar & spelling rules early Elementary education teaches, should be sufficient by itself to make the long “a” sound.

Now, one that should be easy because of a similar means of memnonic as MS, is Tennessee, but MS gets all the press because it’s a state and a river.

Of course, if I was making the graph, I’d have put in Arkansas as a 5th bar.

By: MsMsBurning

MsMsBurning — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:03:53 +0000

How is Maine “a little tricky”? Only 5 letters!