November 09, 2003

Helpful Google

Cinderella Bloggerfeller shows how to have a Pythonesque conversation with Google [via Languagehat]. His elegant example

Search entry:hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Helpful Google: Did you mean: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ?

is easy to generalize:

Search entry: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Helpful Google: Did you mean: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ?

or

Search entry: ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Helpful Google: Did you mean: oooooooooooooooooooooooo ?

Slight variations on the theme also work:

Search entry: gaaaaaaaaaa

Helpful Google: Did you mean: gaaaaaaaaa ?

Sometimes Google is oddly unsympathetic. For example, strings of repeated "aiaiai..." return actual pages right up to 24 ai's, which gets three hits including

Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai!!!!!

Chemistry exam in two hours!!!!

Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai!!!!!

but when asked about 25 ai's, Google just responds coldly

Your search - aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai - did not match any documents.
No pages were found containing "aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai".

Suggestions:

- Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
- Try different keywords.
- Try more general keywords.

Also, you can try Google Answers for expert help with your search.

Posted by Mark Liberman at November 9, 2003 05:47 AM