Make your own using our Graph Builder or upload your own files, images or videos. All our charts are user-submitted.
« Previous Order Graph Out Loud, Get a Bonus Wallpaper Download! | San Francisco Cheezburger Book Launch Party is Tonight! Next »
Make your own using our Graph Builder or upload your own files, images or videos. All our charts are user-submitted.
« Previous Order Graph Out Loud, Get a Bonus Wallpaper Download! | San Francisco Cheezburger Book Launch Party is Tonight! Next »
How is Maine “a little tricky”? Only 5 letters!
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.
(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.
You’re saying Tennessee ist not a state and a river?
I totally live at the end of the Tennessee river.
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.
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.
You forgot Connecticut! There’s a C in the MIDDLE!
WTF?
yeah, i think it took me longer to learn to spell Connecticut than Massachusetts when i was in elementary school
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.
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.
Connecticut is easy – just remember “Connect I Cut”
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.
CONNECTICUT HAS A C IN IT??
Jeez, I never knew that. And I lived in the US for two years. Wow, fail on me…
I mean a C between the E and the first T…of course connecticut has a c in it…double fail.
Connect? I cut!
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.
That was beautiful.
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.
Not to mention many people add in a silent E between the final T and S.
Miss Pell was the name of my geography teacher.
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.
I’m still not very good at spelling Massachusettes.
I sent this graph to my Bostonian friend. She says Massachusetts is easy. “It’s spelled how it sounds.”
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.
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.
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)
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.
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
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.
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!
This is truth.
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.
nice touch on the bars colors.
Are you from tennessee, cuz you’re the only ten I see ..
fail, ima go punish myself now
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?”
lol this was very funny cause im in Massachusetts! XD
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.
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.