A few paragraphs in to Chapter 3 of "How to win friends and influence people"—a book that I'm embarrassed to admit I've undertaken—I found what just appears to be an odd spelling for "absurd." Unfortunately, its not clear from the context that "absurd" is the intended word:
"Why talk about what we want? That is childish. Absured. (…)"
If the word "absurd" was intended, it certainly seems out of place. So my question: Is this an obsolete spelling for absured? A typo? Another word entirely?
EDIT: Perhaps a homely spelling for rustic effect?
Best Answer
It's just a typo in your edition (see for instance page 32 of this Google Books link).
By the way the adjective absurd comes from the Latin word absurdus, so it seems improbable that an older spelling would have an extra e.
Edit: I've also found the version with an extra e:
Because these two versions exist, I can think of two explanations: either this is a subtle joke/play on words (referring to the childish or absurd variant), or it is just a plain typo. I'm inclined to think it is the latter.