Emdashes—Modern Times Between the Lines
The Basics:
About Emdashes | Email us
Ask the Librarians
Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
A Web Comic: The Wavy Rule
Features & Columns:
Headline Shooter
On the Spot
Looked Into
Sempé Fi: Cover Art
I Guess We've Got That Speed-of-Light Thing Figured Out: Google Queries Around the World
Filed under: Looked Into Tagged: China, Google, Italy, Jonathan Taylor, Russia
Jonathan Taylor writes:
There's been a lot of fun lately looking at Google's search query completion suggestions (what's the better phrase for those?). With the hullaballoo about Google in China, I realized I hadn't yet seen comparisons of these searches across international Google sites. To wit: Here's what comes up on Google.com.hk (Hong Kong) when you type in "why" (in English):
Um, are you ready for the U.S. site's questions?
Meanwhile, the Russian Google site's top query—"Why is Putin a crab"—is itself the subject of other queries, asking why that is the case. (There's an answer somewhere behind the wall at the Moscow Times):
And in Italy, the questions include both "Why do women bathe?" and "Why doesn't my girlfriend bathe?" (and "Why did Michael Jackson become white?"):
Any linguists care to tackle other foreign Google sites?
Comments
Priceless! In “Why doesn’t capital flow from rich to poor countries?”, one hears the plaintive midnight doubts of a free-market theorist, wondering why it’s not going according to plan …
An Italian friend points out that “bagnarsi” (to bathe oneself) has a “double meaning” in Italian in reference to women. I get it, but, if you’re using it in that sense, why still do you have to ask Google….