Googlism

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Googlism uses tricky (and undivulged) keyword manipulations to ascertain what Google 'thinks' about people, places, and things. Although the keyword chicanery is hidden, the results are clearly scraped from actual Web pages Google finds in relation to your keyword(s). But don't mistake this site for an information resource - it's entertainment only. Googlism swept through the Usenet newsgroups when it was introduced, as everyone delighted in discovering the supposed revelatory truth about their online acquaintances.

Googlism works in plain fashion. Go to the home page (Figure 15-4):

www.googlism.com

Figure 15-4: Googlism finds out everything about people, places, and things.

Type a keyword, click the appropriate option (Who, What, Where, or When), and click the Googlism! button. What follows is a list of sentence fragments and occasional complete phrases scraped from Google search results. The amusement factor is due to taking the phrases out of context, as if they were always meant to be as declamatory as they appear in Googlism. Take, for example, this short sample from the Googlism on Microsoft:

Microsoft is calling you

Microsoft is losing its grip

Microsoft is calling you a lab rat

Microsoft is

The last one seems complete unto itself.

Run a Googlism on yourself, but remember that results must come from Web pages that include your name. Of course, getting hits on your name that belong to an identically named stranger is fun, too.

Tip 

Want to know where a particular Googlism comes from? Even the silliest sounding ones are not made up; they come from some Web page. Simply type the Googlism into Google (not into Googlism) and check the results. Put quotes around the Googlism if the original search results show any confusion.

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