One of my favorite time-wasting exercises is to search for an incomplete phrases. For example, what do you think would be the top return for these search phrases: "top of the", "as big as a" or "put it on the"?
You might be surprised.
Today, we'll look at those three search phrases. I'll give you only the No. 1 return for each one.
For "top of the," I immediately think of the phrase "top of the morning," so that is my choice.
The real Top Return on Google is: Top of the Rock Observation Deck in New York. My guess was not in the Top Ten.
For "as big as a," I don't have a guess that is as wonderful as my "top of the morning" guess, but I will choose "house" as in "as big as a house."
The real No. 1 return on Google is: The Ancient Rat as Big as a Bull. No way could I ever guess that. My guesses continue to suck. My guess "as big as a house" was not in the Top Ten. The closest was "as big as a breadbox."
The third and final search phrase for today is: "Put it on the." I don't have a clue, but since I must choose, I will select "Put it on the table." Oh, well.
The No. 1 return on Google is: Put it on the Shelf, a page of the kidzpage.com. The most popular return in Top Ten was "put it on the line" which appeared on several different sites. My choice, "put it on the table" was not in the Top Ten. All three of my picks bombed. Today, I have truly proven my consistency.
Now, it's your turn. It's a great little game, and it always has surprising results. Don't be too cocky. It's a hard game. You may find it hard to beat my score of 0.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Britney, Jessica, Paris
I will search for the first names of three of the most famous pop stars in the world: Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Britney and Jessica sing. Paris earned her fame by going to parties. Still, all three are pop stars, but only two are pop music stars.
Here is the game. Just by reading the search description from the returns, will we find more instances of the word "Hilton," "Simpson," or "Spears."
I say that Hilton will show up the most. I say that because there has to be something magical about the popularity of an amoral, idle-rich celebrity with the body of a 13-year-old boy. There has to be something about her that caused her to be famous.
Here we go.
Today's Search Term: Britney, Jessica, Paris.
I found just one instance of the word "Spears" in the Top Ten returns. Remember, I am only looking in the description.
There are five instances of the word "Simpson" in the Top Ten. Will Paris show up more? Am I right about the popularity of talentless rich people?
There are only four instances of "Hilton," so Ms. Simpson wins this little battle.
I don't know what it all means. I know that Spears is busy trying to get back on top, but her last name showed up just the once. Hilton has never done a darned thing and she shows up almost as much as Jessica Simpson.
Who can tell?
Here is the game. Just by reading the search description from the returns, will we find more instances of the word "Hilton," "Simpson," or "Spears."
I say that Hilton will show up the most. I say that because there has to be something magical about the popularity of an amoral, idle-rich celebrity with the body of a 13-year-old boy. There has to be something about her that caused her to be famous.
Here we go.
Today's Search Term: Britney, Jessica, Paris.
I found just one instance of the word "Spears" in the Top Ten returns. Remember, I am only looking in the description.
There are five instances of the word "Simpson" in the Top Ten. Will Paris show up more? Am I right about the popularity of talentless rich people?
There are only four instances of "Hilton," so Ms. Simpson wins this little battle.
I don't know what it all means. I know that Spears is busy trying to get back on top, but her last name showed up just the once. Hilton has never done a darned thing and she shows up almost as much as Jessica Simpson.
Who can tell?
Friday, September 12, 2008
Funniest joke ever
Today I will search and report the top return for the funniest joke ever. That's pretty simple. Let's see who wins the battle of the Internet.
Today's Search Term: Funniest Joke Ever.
The winner and top return is a page on InnocentEnglish.com. They have an article on the funniest jokes ever. Here is the first joke that they present.
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head.
The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”
The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “Okay, now what?”
That is a funny joke, but I heard it years and years ago. Is it still the funniest joke, if you already know the punchline? Well, maybe....
This would be a good search term for you to explore. Many of the returns talk about the Top 50 jokes or the Top 100 jokes; so you will have a couple of hours of laughs ahead of you if you do the searching.
Until next time, keep thinking outside of the box.
Today's Search Term: Funniest Joke Ever.
The winner and top return is a page on InnocentEnglish.com. They have an article on the funniest jokes ever. Here is the first joke that they present.
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head.
The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?”
The operator, in a calm, soothing voice, says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: “Okay, now what?”
That is a funny joke, but I heard it years and years ago. Is it still the funniest joke, if you already know the punchline? Well, maybe....
This would be a good search term for you to explore. Many of the returns talk about the Top 50 jokes or the Top 100 jokes; so you will have a couple of hours of laughs ahead of you if you do the searching.
Until next time, keep thinking outside of the box.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
AZBYC
Today's search term is made by starting with the first letter of the alphabet (A) and adding the last letter (Z) and then adding the second (B) and the second to last (Y) and finally the third letter (C) of the alphabet. This forms a five-letter search term: AZBYC.
We are looking to see how many letters we have to use to come up with a term that does not have any Google returns.
Today's First Search Term: AZBYC.
There are 917 returns for AZBYC. That's not too many. From the results, it appears that a lot of people are using that term as their screen name. For instance, the first return is a name on Stumbleupon. The second is a name on FaceBook. The third is a name on NetLog. The list goes on.
So we add a letter.
Today's Second Search Term: AZBYCX
Uh-oh. There are over 4,000 returns for this search term. We are going backwards.
So we add another letter.
Today's Third Search Term; AZBYCXD
We are back down to 91 returns, and there are still people who are choosing it as a screen name.
Today's Fourth Search Term: AZBYCXDW
878 returns
Today's Fifth Search Term: AZBYCXDWE
Only 9 returns. We're almost there. The top return is for a Mensa quiz about Jim and his baseball cards. Just thought you might be interested.
Today's Sixth and Hopefully Last Search Term: AZBYCXDWEV
242 returns. We're going backwards again. Crap.
Today's Seventh Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVF
3 returns. Woohoo, almost there.
Today's Eighth Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVFU
508 returns. Rrrrrrrr!!!
Today's Ninth Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVFUG
Finally, finally, finally. No returns. Boy, that took forever. I won't be doing patterns of letters like this very much. It takes too long. Yeesh!!
We are looking to see how many letters we have to use to come up with a term that does not have any Google returns.
Today's First Search Term: AZBYC.
There are 917 returns for AZBYC. That's not too many. From the results, it appears that a lot of people are using that term as their screen name. For instance, the first return is a name on Stumbleupon. The second is a name on FaceBook. The third is a name on NetLog. The list goes on.
So we add a letter.
Today's Second Search Term: AZBYCX
Uh-oh. There are over 4,000 returns for this search term. We are going backwards.
So we add another letter.
Today's Third Search Term; AZBYCXD
We are back down to 91 returns, and there are still people who are choosing it as a screen name.
Today's Fourth Search Term: AZBYCXDW
878 returns
Today's Fifth Search Term: AZBYCXDWE
Only 9 returns. We're almost there. The top return is for a Mensa quiz about Jim and his baseball cards. Just thought you might be interested.
Today's Sixth and Hopefully Last Search Term: AZBYCXDWEV
242 returns. We're going backwards again. Crap.
Today's Seventh Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVF
3 returns. Woohoo, almost there.
Today's Eighth Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVFU
508 returns. Rrrrrrrr!!!
Today's Ninth Search Term: AZBYCXDWEVFUG
Finally, finally, finally. No returns. Boy, that took forever. I won't be doing patterns of letters like this very much. It takes too long. Yeesh!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Cat's Pajamas
Today's search will be for a term that was very common back in great great great grandma's day. In the 1920s, people walked around saying that cool things were "the Cat's Pajamas" or were "The Bees Knees." There were plenty of similar expressions that were kind of silly and fun.
But that was way, way back before the Internet. How many people today use those terms? Let's find out. Today, I am looking for the two most interesting returns out of the Top Ten. I will ignore the others.
Today's Search Term: The Bees Knees.
Wow, there are 281,000 returns. Return No. 1 is for the Bees Knees Restaurant in Morrisville, Vermont. They emphasize locally grown and organic vegetables. So if you want to live long, eat at the Bees Knees, but if you want to live life fully, go find a greasy spoon.
The second return I will talk about is return No. 3, which has this description in its return: "the bee's knees". (Phrase Origins) A bee's "corbiculae", or pollen-baskets, are located on its tibiae (midsegments of its legs). ...
So if someone says something is the bee's knees, you can reply by saying "Do you mean the corbiculae on the midsegments of the tibia?"
That should shut them up.
But that was way, way back before the Internet. How many people today use those terms? Let's find out. Today, I am looking for the two most interesting returns out of the Top Ten. I will ignore the others.
Today's Search Term: The Bees Knees.
Wow, there are 281,000 returns. Return No. 1 is for the Bees Knees Restaurant in Morrisville, Vermont. They emphasize locally grown and organic vegetables. So if you want to live long, eat at the Bees Knees, but if you want to live life fully, go find a greasy spoon.
The second return I will talk about is return No. 3, which has this description in its return: "the bee's knees". (Phrase Origins) A bee's "corbiculae", or pollen-baskets, are located on its tibiae (midsegments of its legs). ...
So if someone says something is the bee's knees, you can reply by saying "Do you mean the corbiculae on the midsegments of the tibia?"
That should shut them up.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
McBama
Today's term is called a portmanteau. A portmanteau is a word that is formed by jamming two other words together to form a new word.
I jammed McCain and Obama together and came up with McBama. There are other words that you could form: McCama, Mcama, Mbama. If you swapped the two names, you could form: Obain, OCain, ObaMcCain.
But I get to pick and I pick McBama. Write your own blog if you want to be such a control freak.
Today's Search Term: McBama.
I predict that there are hundreds of thousands of returns. Am I right? What do you think?
Well, whaddya know, I was right. There are about 644,000 pages on the Internet with the term "McBama." Most of them do not seem to be happy sites. You don't have to read them to recognize the hostility and intolerance of political attack dogs.
What I want you to take with you today is the knowledge that occasionally I am right. So keep the faith. I just might do it again before the year is out.
I jammed McCain and Obama together and came up with McBama. There are other words that you could form: McCama, Mcama, Mbama. If you swapped the two names, you could form: Obain, OCain, ObaMcCain.
But I get to pick and I pick McBama. Write your own blog if you want to be such a control freak.
Today's Search Term: McBama.
I predict that there are hundreds of thousands of returns. Am I right? What do you think?
Well, whaddya know, I was right. There are about 644,000 pages on the Internet with the term "McBama." Most of them do not seem to be happy sites. You don't have to read them to recognize the hostility and intolerance of political attack dogs.
What I want you to take with you today is the knowledge that occasionally I am right. So keep the faith. I just might do it again before the year is out.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Violet Chicken Bank
How goofy are you? Can you think up terms that nobody else has ever used? It's a fun little game to see if you can stump Google.
Today I am using a three-word phrase and I will search for that exact phrase. The only returns will be for pages that have those three words side by side and in that order.
Today's Search Term: Violet Chicken Bank.
I win. Google says that there are zero pages that contain that particular phrase. It would be an unusual one, but I wasn't confident that I would win. There is such an overwhelming amount of stuff on the Internet.
Anyway, let's break it down. I am going to do two more searches: Violet Chicken and Chicken Bank. We will see which term has the greatest number of search returns.
Today's Second Search Term: Violet Chicken.
152 pages on the Internet have the term "Violet Chicken." That makes it relatively rare, but it can be found.
Today's Third Search Term: Chicken Bank.
2,170 pages return for "Chicken Bank." Still rare, but much more common than "Violet Chicken." Apparently, there are a fair number of children's banks in the shape of chickens.
That's all for today. See you tomorrow with another oddball search for nothing in particular.
Today I am using a three-word phrase and I will search for that exact phrase. The only returns will be for pages that have those three words side by side and in that order.
Today's Search Term: Violet Chicken Bank.
I win. Google says that there are zero pages that contain that particular phrase. It would be an unusual one, but I wasn't confident that I would win. There is such an overwhelming amount of stuff on the Internet.
Anyway, let's break it down. I am going to do two more searches: Violet Chicken and Chicken Bank. We will see which term has the greatest number of search returns.
Today's Second Search Term: Violet Chicken.
152 pages on the Internet have the term "Violet Chicken." That makes it relatively rare, but it can be found.
Today's Third Search Term: Chicken Bank.
2,170 pages return for "Chicken Bank." Still rare, but much more common than "Violet Chicken." Apparently, there are a fair number of children's banks in the shape of chickens.
That's all for today. See you tomorrow with another oddball search for nothing in particular.
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