Beech Tree News Network

Recently, I read some information about things that occur “commonly,” meaning often or prevalently. Becoming interested, I did a bit more reading about some of the common occurrences around us. People make multiple choices every day. Sometimes our choices are similar to the choices others make. I’ve chosen ten common choices or occurrences – in no particular order – to share.

•Most common first name in the past 100 years: Social Security (https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/decades/century.html) analyzed the names for babies born between 1918 and 2017. The most popular given male name was James, and the most popular female name was Mary. These names were not the most popular every year, but were popular over the one-hundred-year timeframe.

•Most common vehicle on the road: In 2012, Mark Holthoff (Used Car Editor at Klipnik) asked their Industry Analysis team to identify the most popular cars on the road in the U.S. Based on vehicles registered and in operation at the time, the team identified the Ford F Series as the most common vehicle on the road (https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-popular-cars-on-the-road-in-the-US).

•Most common college major: Abigail Hess, CNBC, reported that “The No. 1 most popular major” in 2015 was business (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/15/the-6-most-popular-college-majors.html). She also stated that the National Center for Education Statistics “found that business was the most common field of study for every racial and ethnic group but that men earned the majority of business bachelor's degrees.”

•Most common interview question: One of the most common interview questions – based on several articles – is “Tell me about yourself.” Interestingly, Alison Doyle said “…the ‘present-past-future’ formula” is a way to respond, sharing “key background points while ending on a high note” (https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-interview-questions-and-best-answe...).

•Most common reason reported for missing work: People commonly miss work due to sickness, family emergency, or death in the family. Additionally, Brian Mittman stated that “One of the most common reasons employees give to their bosses for missing work hours is due to car trouble” (https://thedisabilityguys.com/reasons-for-missing-work-car-trouble/).

•Most common U.S. vacation destination: The Statista website listed the most popular types of vacation destination for U.S. travelers in 2015. The survey question gaining this information was “To which of the following types of destination do you plan on vacationing this summer?” The answers, from most popular to least popular, were: beach location, downtown/center of a city, national/state park, countryside/rural, mountain location, suburban, theme park, leisure/discovery, international location, cruise, family (https://www.statista.com/statistics/303094/popular-vacation-destination-...). I wondered whether using a different season in the question would have changed participants’ responses. 

•Most commonly used phone apps: According to Christina Bonnington, the most used phone apps in 2016 were Facebook, Facebook Manager, YouTube, and Google Maps (https://www.dailydot.com/debug/most-popular-apps-2016/).

•Most common emoji used: Elise Moreau wrote an article about emoji use and concluded that “happy face emoji account for about 44 percent of all that are used, followed by sad faces at 14 percent, hearts at 13 percent, hand gestures at 5 percent, and the rest at very small percentages (https://www.lifewire.com/what-are-the-most-popular-emoji-3485892).

•Most commonly watched sport: Reference website reported, “The National Football League is the most watched professional sports league in the United States of America. College football adds to football's popularity. However, baseball is attended more frequently. NFL teams play only eight home games during the regular season, and college teams play fewer. Teams in Major League Baseball, on the other hand, have 81 home games per season, which ensures that it remains the most popular sport seen in person. The NFL has, for the past 30 years, been rated as the most popular sport in the United States; before the 1980s, baseball was the most popular sport. The National Basketball Association is a distant third” (https://www.reference.com/sports-active-lifestyle/watched-sport-america-...).

•Most common tax errors made: J.R. Duren’s finance article, “11 Most Common Tax-Filing Mistakes to Avoid” (https://www.highya.com/articles-guides/11-common-mistakes-taxpayers-make...), listed rushing through the tax return as tax mistake #1 and hiding income as tax mistake #2. Though I’m not careless about tax preparation, I have likely make mistakes.

William Glasser said, “Good or bad, everything we do is our best choice at the moment” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/choice). I agree with Glasser. And when we make a choice much like others, that decision is our best choice at the moment.