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It’s official, our spelling has gone to ….. well, diarrhoea.
That is the word most Aussie’s have struggled to spell over the past year, Google Trends data reveals.
It tops national online spelling searches ahead of “received” — remember the “i before e except after c” rule?
“Spelt or spelled” also had us stumped, as did “cancelled” and “favourite”.
As thousands of kids across Australia start sitting the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, the data shows “diarrhea” also topped the spelling searches of South Australians, Western Australians and folks from NSW.
People from NSW also turned to Google to ask how to spell “jail”, while those from the ACT had to check on “euthanasia” and “emphenage”, which is actually spelt “empennage” and is the rear part of an aircraft.
Queenslanders wanted to know how to spell “beautiful” — so Queensland — and it was clearly a mixture of business and pleasure in Tasmania, where “stationary”, “mortgage” and “cappuccino” were among the most searched spelling words.
Victorians grappled with the US spelling of “cancelation” and we’re not really sure where Northern Territorians were headed with their spelling searches for “pechracliff” and “identerfying spelling”.
While some experts fear digital technology is degrading our spelling, the Google Trends data reveals the extent we are using online checks to get us out of spelling pickles.
The data shows spelling related searches hit an all time high in May last year.
Literacy expert Dr Jennifer Buckingham said the English language was full of traps for unwary spellers and it was no wonder we needed help.
“Double letters are the things that catch people out. They often don’t look wrong when you write them, so they often catch people out,” Dr Buckingham said.
She said Australian spellers also had to contend with different US and UK spellings, as well as changing spelling conventions over time, such as the trend to remove the first “a” from encyclopaedia.
Time is running out for teachers to sign up to the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee. Registrations for the free online competition for Year 3 to Year 8 students close at 11.59pm Wednesday, March 24. Register at kidsnews.com.au
Top spelling related searches on Google in the past 12 months
AUSTRALIA
Diarrhea spelling
Received spelling
Spelt or spelled
Cancelled spelling
How to spell favourite
ACT
Spelled or spelt
Spell filed
Spelling of licence
Spell emphenage
English spelling for euthanasia
NSW
Diarrhea spelling
Received spelling
How to spell jail in Australia
Spelled or spelt
How to spell colour
NT
Correct spelling of familiar
How do you spell pechracliff
How to spell damaged
How do you spell celebrate
Identerfying spelling
QLD
Spelt or spelled
Diarrhea spelling
Received spelling
How do you spell beautiful
How to spell delicious
SA
Diarrhea spelling
Received spelling
How do you spell vocabulary
How do I spell piniata
How do you spell virus
TAS
Spell stationery
Spell mortgage
Spelling of cappuccino
Spell utmost
Spelling of exactly
VIC
Received spelling
Diarrhea spelling
Spelt or spelled
Cancelled spelling
How to spell exercise
WA
Diarrhea spelling
Received spelling
Spelt or spelled
Cancelation spelling
How do you spell colour
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