Journal

Leading phrase Google game

Posted on December 6th, 2004, in the evening

File this one under 'Hmmmmm', but I've amused myself for a good half hour during a particularly long file transfer typing common leading and filler phrases in to Google with quotes around them. It's strangely complusive looking through the different snapshots of lives and activity that appear in the preview text.

Here are some starters to give you the idea if you want to join the game:

• "the last thing in the world"
• "sometimes I wonder if I'm"
• "we should never forget that"
• "of all the hair-brained"
• "the fact of the matter is that"
• "and then I saw it"
• "why don't they realise"
• "while they were looking the other way"

The success of a leading phrase search should be measured firstly on achieving 10 unique results (i.e. no repeated content) and secondly in the diversity of the worlds they represent. The ideal set of results also wouldn't have the original phrase in any of the page titles, but the whole phrase should be in bold type in each preview text.

I accept no responsibility for anything these searches throw up, but then, "surely everybody knows" that.