Most misspelled word of 2013 -- Furlough (meaning, quote, words, dictionary)

[jtur88]

Misspelling of the Year 2013 | Dictionary.com Blog

[oregonwoodsmoke]

It can't be the most misspelled word. How many times does anyone use the word furlough unless they are writing a political column about government lay offs? It's a word that doesn't get much usage.

[ABQConvict]

A lot of employers furlough workers every year, not just the government.

With the cuurent economic situation, furloughs are more common and longer than ever.

[Mightyqueen801]

I would have bet it was "advise" for "advice", or "loose" for "lose", but maybe that's just on City-Data.

[chiroptera]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I would have bet it was "advise" for "advice", or "loose" for "lose", but maybe that's just on City-Data.

You forgot "wallah!" I see that one a lot here.

Also their, there, they're and various bone-headed permutations.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by chiroptera

You forgot "wallah!" I see that one a lot here.

Also their, there, they're and various bone-headed permutations.

Don't you mean Walla, their is know h.

[chiroptera]

Originally Posted by Copanut

Don't you mean Walla, their is know h.

Too shay!

[Ohiogirl81]

My vote (should I get one ) is for "bokay", also seen as "bookay", as in bokay of flowers. I see it on every other florists' changeable letter sign.

Those silly French words really trip folks up, don't they?

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

My vote (should I get one ) is for "bokay", also seen as "bookay", as in bokay of flowers. I see it on every other florists' changeable letter sign.

Those silly French words really trip folks up, don't they?

There's a florist shop in Wyckoff, NJ, that's had signs out about bokays for years.

[Matt Marcinkiewicz]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

It can't be the most misspelled word. How many times does anyone use the word furlough unless they are writing a political column about government lay offs? It's a word that doesn't get much usage.

From what I can gather from the post, "furlough" was the most frequently misspelled word that was searched on dictionary.com in 2013, not the most misspelled word in all the Internet (or whatever). There's still a chance that something more basic may have been misspelled more often (not too basic, though, because people over the age of ten aren't looking lose/loose up in the dictionary, even as they make such basic spelling errors throughout their entire lives), but "furlough" does intuitively seem to be a good candidate for the honor bestowed upon it in the blog post, given that it would've clearly been a one-year wonder in terms of number of attempted dictionary.com consultations regarding its meaning. The guy who wrote the article runs a business intelligence company, so it would seem that we could trust that the title is more or less driven by dictionary.com data...the only issue that remains unclear is whether the distinction-defining data is based on simple absolutes (as in, furlough truly was the #1 misspelled word of 2013 on dictionary.com) or the relative "popularity" of "furlough" in this given year (2013) versus other years. I'm betting on the latter, but I guess I wouldn't rule out the former.