Coyote Blog

16 Comments

1. Jens Fiederer:

   Doesn't take long to try for yourself, it's legit. Maybe they were the most RECENT?

   Knowledgeable people don't tend to use fully formed questions in google searches.

   The result for just "why" was no more reassuring:
   Just plain "why" (without the "are") gives you:
   why do men have nipples
   why is the sky blue
   why is my poop green
   why do cats purr
   why did i get married too
   why do dogs eat poop
   why did the chicken cross the road
   why do dogs eat grass
   why does my vag smell

   December 16, 2009, 2:13 pm

2. rob sama:

   You think that's bad? Try typing in "Why are black" and see what the suggestions are...

   December 16, 2009, 2:14 pm

3. roger the shrubber:

   why ARE the kardashians famous? my wife insists on watching that gaggle of self-centered douchebags, and it's like what you see when you look under a rotting log. they make the shamwow guy look honest and honorable.

   December 16, 2009, 2:40 pm

4. Matt:

   I work for a Belgian company, so our Internet connection goes through a proxy in Belgium. So, here are the suggestions for "why are" from http://www.google.be:

   why are chinese people yellow
   why are flamingos pink
   why are indians so cheap
   why are indians so smart
   why are the danes so happy
   why are thin people not fat
   why are we here
   why are black people so loud
   why are yawns contagious
   why are michael jackson's kids white

   You could argue that these are even worse the the US ones.

   December 16, 2009, 3:06 pm

5. ArtD0dger:

   I think there's some sort of "Google autocomplete bombing" going on.
   http://autocompleteme.com/

   December 16, 2009, 3:27 pm

6. smurfy:

   "Why are there school"

   Precisely

   December 16, 2009, 3:52 pm

7. Evil Red Scandi:

   @roger - Technically, the female word for "douchebag" is "baguette." I know, I know, it's hard to keep the modern grammar straight.

   December 16, 2009, 4:24 pm

8. Chris:

   I stuck the top five terms into Google Trends and there has been some activity for three of them. Michael Jackson and barns aren't really getting that much traffic, so I don't know why they are being suggested so highly.

   Here's the link to my comparison:
   http://www.google.com/trends?q=why+are+black+people+so+loud%2C+why+are+yawns+contagious%2C+why+are+michael+jackson%27s+kids+white%2C+why+are+we+in+afghanistan%2C+why+are+barns+red&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2009&sort=1

   I believe the suggestion engine uses the most popular searches, but there really aren't that many searches that begin with "why are". So it draws from some really small list of strange searches, and once it starts suggesting something people start taking the suggestion which only makes it more popular. It makes one question the legitimacy of basing search suggestions on actual searches. The act of suggesting something influences future suggestions.

   Here is a comparison that shows that "why is the sky blue" beats all the top "why are-" suggestions I used previously and "climate change" completely dominates "why is the sky blue":
   http://www.google.com/trends?q=why+are+black+people+so+loud%2C+why+are+yawns+contagious%2C+why+are+we+in+afghanistan%2C+why+is+the+sky+blue%2C+climate+change&ctab=0&geo=all&date=2009&sort=1

   December 16, 2009, 5:32 pm

9. Cilla Mitchell,Galveston, Texas:

   Why do stupid people live so long?

   December 17, 2009, 7:27 am

10. David K:

    "Why do" is no great shakes either.

    Why do men have nipples
    Why do cats purr
    Why do dogs eat poop
    Why do dogs eat grass
    Why does my vag smell
    Why does my eye twitch
    Why do leaves change color
    Why do we dream
    Why do men cheat
    Why do cats knead

    December 17, 2009, 11:31 am

11. Methinks:

    Why do stupid people live so long?

    Too stupid to suffer from stress.

    December 17, 2009, 12:32 pm

12. Jake S.:

    "What has"

    What has Obama done so far
    What has Obama done
    What has Obama accomplished
    What has gluten in it
    What has potassium in it
    What has Obama accomplished as president

    December 17, 2009, 3:23 pm

13. TJIC:

    Yes, this is what google suggests as a search. :-/

    Leaving aside the unsavory racist aspect to the question, I was briefly amused because the Heinlein quote popped into my head "whenever people ask 'why ____ ?' the answer is usually 'money'".

    ...which seems wildly inappropriate in this context.

    December 18, 2009, 8:28 am

14. Sean:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_bomb

    December 19, 2009, 8:34 am

15. Dick:

    why do standard scissors work for right handed people but not left handed folks?

    December 22, 2009, 3:28 pm

16. markm:

    the Heinlein quote popped into my head “whenever people ask ‘why ____ ?’ the answer is usually ‘money’”.

    …which seems wildly inappropriate in this context.

    At least it explains the Kardashians...

    December 24, 2009, 6:58 am