The spelling of "Josh Billings" is not entirely intuitive. The first name is pronounced as "jɑʃ" or "josh", with the "o" being replaced by an "a" sound. The last name is pronounced as "bɪlɪŋz", with a silent "g" and "s" being pronounced as "z". One possible explanation for the unusual spelling is that "Billings" was a common surname in the author's time and he may have wanted to differentiate himself by adding a unique spelling to his name.