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BS: Who googles for sex?

16 Oct 06 - 11:37 AM (#1860388)
Subject: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Wolfgang

If you go to Google Trends and look who (country, language, towns) worldwide leads in googling for the word "sex" you can see some interesting results. It is a pity that Google does not offer the number of WWW-accesses per town/language/country on that site as well.

The first impression is that the more covered the women in a region are the more often the males(?) of that region google for 'sex'.

But of course there are alternative interpretation for why native speakers of the world language English so relatively seldom google for "sex": Whereas nonnative speakers might have no other choice than to start with that three-letter word know in nearly all languages, the native speakers know also some four-letter words in English and so already start with a refined search.

Wolfgang (half serious and with no intention to google trend for the four letter words as well)


16 Oct 06 - 11:45 AM (#1860396)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Amos

Interesting. On a quick view of the regions, it appears that the more suppressed the subject is in the culture, the more googling for it gets done from the "hidden" places where people sit at their computers. This argues that suppressing topics of discussion makes them persist and become obsessive in individual minds.

A


16 Oct 06 - 11:52 AM (#1860403)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: GUEST

Wolfgang, all your needs will be met on one site, try it. www.askjolene.com


16 Oct 06 - 01:25 PM (#1860484)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Bill D

I'll bet a majority of those who WOULD Google for a general term like 'sex' don't even know you'd have to turn off the 'safe search' default to get many 'interesting' results!


16 Oct 06 - 01:26 PM (#1860485)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Amos

How did you learn that, then, Bill?


A


16 Oct 06 - 01:36 PM (#1860498)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: McGrath of Harlow

Possibly the existence of places with names like Essex and Sussex might screw up those statistics somewhat...


16 Oct 06 - 01:40 PM (#1860504)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Bill D

How did I learn that? Why, I look at almost ALL menu items for important pages! Like this one preferences

why, just the other day I was looking up "goats, jello, Nuns & trampolines", and it was very dull till I turned off "safe search".


16 Oct 06 - 03:03 PM (#1860593)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Liz the Squeak

The recent Dell computer advert has me giggling....

Dell Operator: what are you going to use your computer for?

Customer: (really) I'm going to use it for work and my kids like watching films on it.

Customer: (in my head) I'm going to use it for porn and watching my kiddie films on it....

Wonder if he'll get the Pentium inside....

LTS


16 Oct 06 - 03:11 PM (#1860596)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Little Hawk

Then there's Wessex too...


16 Oct 06 - 03:50 PM (#1860630)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: McGrath of Harlow

They tried to abolish Middlesex. Well, with a name like that it got people talking...


16 Oct 06 - 04:01 PM (#1860635)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Bert

I use my googlies for sex all the time. What do you use your's for?


16 Oct 06 - 04:09 PM (#1860650)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Divis Sweeney

I sit on the sofa with my laptop on my knee, please don't think I am using it for pleasure !


16 Oct 06 - 04:18 PM (#1860662)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: terrier

It's not too difficult to Suss sex, but if you get lost, try using a SEXtant.


16 Oct 06 - 04:42 PM (#1860676)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Liz the Squeak

You want to watch it, using your lappy on your lap, you could burn your knadgers if you use it too much. There was a case of a bloke who got 3rd degree burns on his legs because he used his lappy for a long time on his lap, rather than a table or bench.

LTS


16 Oct 06 - 05:14 PM (#1860703)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: McGrath of Harlow

What was using the laptop for?


16 Oct 06 - 06:00 PM (#1860753)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: terrier

If your lappy is a Dell...BEWARE exploding batteries.


16 Oct 06 - 08:54 PM (#1860891)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Joe_F

I have not actually looked, but I have heard tell that in the Massachusetts statehouse the conference rooms are named after the counties, so that one may find neighboring doors marked Men, Women, and Middlesex.


16 Oct 06 - 09:11 PM (#1860899)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Richard Bridge

Before you google for sex, google for "Cleanfeed" and worry that big brother is watching you.


17 Oct 06 - 01:47 AM (#1861020)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

re the sample cited by Wolfgang:

Those in "repressed" regions may need to search to find out what it is.

Those in "less repressed" regions in some cases may be searching to try to figure out how to do it.

Those in the US and/or UK1 (according to some opinions of the populace) most likely are only concerned about who's doing it.


1 You'll have to figure out for yourselves where to put these regions on the repressed/unrepressed scale.


As an additional example, using "torture" as the search term, the #2 place was Washington DC, where they're probably looking for ways to get by with it without looking guilty. The next US city is near the bottom of the list, where most likely (in Chicago) it has something to do with local copshop stories(?).

(Making up your own bizarre interpretations is lots of fun. Believing in them is probably pretty ridiculous.)

For those who might want to get in the "front door" at trends it should be at Google trends. (It appears to be still a bit "rough," as I had to retry each of four or five terms I "tested" - some up to 4 times.)

John


17 Oct 06 - 02:33 AM (#1861033)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: GUEST

Looks like the volume peaks up at christmas. Guess that is people with new computers. Its like getting a brand new dictionary and looking up all the rude words.... its a compulsion


17 Oct 06 - 05:30 AM (#1861109)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Looking at a few of our own popular threads, entering "Foley" shows a very large peak in searches from Florida, which is quite understandable since that's his district.

If one looks at the "news items" associated with the several peaks in searches for this word, however, they all are about other persons named "Foley." The peak in Florida appears to be coincident with news about some "shuffleboard coach/personal trainer/diet counselor" (or maybe he/she's a football coach - I didn't look for details).

If one puts both names in (Mark|Foley) the results are flat across all cities, and Google states that "there were no news reports found."

One other term representative of a "popular" US political event showed only the Irish as at all interested. A couple of other quick looks gave similarly puzzling results.

An intriguing idea, at least on surface; but it seems not to actually tell one very much. At least not without some additional searching to eliminate bizarre causes for the results displayed.

John


17 Oct 06 - 05:46 AM (#1861117)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Big Al Whittle

theres a dictionary....?


17 Oct 06 - 02:33 PM (#1861425)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Amos

Oddly enough if you put in "scandal" none of the FOley stories get listed in the side bar, and the dominant searchers by several orders of magnitude are in the Phillipines. 'S up wid dat?


A


17 Oct 06 - 09:50 PM (#1861805)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Amos -

I assume you noted that the stories in the side bar are tagged to correspond to peaks in the search activity plots. No peaks = no stories.

Disclaimers at the search site state that "only a sample of Google results" are currently included in the statistics shown, implying that while the process is under development they're not using the full database(s).

The link at the bottom of the page, to "About Google Trends" offers the advice that results are "normalized for populations" so if one of the five1 people in the Phillipines who has a connection searched for the term it would likely show a very large "normalized" contribution. That 3 (in different cities) of the 5 people there who are hooked up made searches on the term would undoubtedly produce large peaks. (?)

1 Of course I know that people there are highly civilized and everybody has a high speed connection. This just means that most people get the news on their RSS feeds and don't have to look up anything, except for the 5 people who made Google searches because they haven't subscribed to a news feed - 3 of whom asked about a local scandal that wasn't big enough to make the world-wide news.

(The possible explanations form a vast body of wonderful theories.)

John


18 Oct 06 - 12:12 AM (#1861875)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Amos

Thanks, John. I had failed to notice how those values were arrived at.


A


18 Oct 06 - 01:28 AM (#1861907)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Stephen L. Rich

"Not I," said the duck.


18 Oct 06 - 03:32 AM (#1861931)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Gurney

A lady once told me that she wanted a picture of a pair of lips for a birthday card, so she Googled 'lips'. She got her picture, but it wasn't of a mouth.

No, I've never tried it. Or forgotten it.


18 Oct 06 - 07:11 AM (#1862029)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Gurney -

I just checked for you. Even with "Safe Search" turned off, at least the first few pages (image search) are things that have lips or lip care products, and something about a movie. Nothing particularly risque.

The most startling thing is perhaps a brief essay on "Pamela's lips" protesting her (apparent) use of "puff up" injections. The picture shows ... ... a bit of Pamela ... ... (and of course her lips).

A quick check on the "Trends" site shows Portland OR most interested city, US most interested region. (subject to all the disclaimers at the Trends site, naturally.)

John


18 Oct 06 - 07:55 AM (#1862058)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Paul Burke

Google has cleaned up its act a lot in the last few years. Once the most innocent search would result in an education, not necessarily of the best sort. On the other hand, I once googled for "Tralee and Dingle Railway" and got an erudite article about the heat death of the Universe.


18 Oct 06 - 08:04 AM (#1862061)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Paul Burke

What about these results then? According to this, most people who want to make bombs are Antipodean or British..

But Wigan are Rugby League champions!!!


18 Oct 06 - 09:38 AM (#1862128)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

But Paul, if you check the "headlines" at the Rugby League report, you'll note that nothing has happened that interests anyone (i.e merits a report) for nearly two years.

Obviously these reports are of marginal value, as too many that I've checked disagree with my perceptions of what's going on.

John


18 Oct 06 - 10:44 AM (#1862200)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Wolfgang

Adding to Paul's results about bomb making:

New Zealnd and Australia are the leading countries in searching for 'Hiroshima' and Japan even does not show among the first ten.

There must be something happening there without us noticing until now which dwarfs the attempt of North Korea and Iran to get the bomb.

Wolfgang


18 Oct 06 - 04:49 PM (#1862568)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Bunnahabhain

Wolfgang, at the moment it only looks at English language searches, so the Antipodies make sense as the top searches for Hirosima. They're closer to North Korea than any of the lower 48 states.


21 Oct 06 - 11:00 AM (#1865055)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: GUEST,sorefingers

And .... tut tut

Shocker if you live there


21 Oct 06 - 12:01 PM (#1865087)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: GUEST,sorefingers

Gee while on that topic and if it isn't too much of a drift how bout

"WASHINGTON A typical political fund-raiser is getting a not-so-typical guest -- a porn star.
Mary Carey is in Washington today, taking in the power scene. She'll be a guest at the President's Dinner -- an annual fund-raiser put on by committees helping Republican congressional candidates.

Earlier, the blonde attended a Republican lunch that featured a speech by White House adviser Karl Rove. Carey says she met "a lot of nice people" who talked about helping her raise money for her next campaign"


21 Oct 06 - 08:26 PM (#1865355)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: katlaughing

LOL...only at Mudcat could I learn so much from a thread I didn't want to open because I figured it was some kind of phishing/baiting! Thanks, fellahs!


21 Oct 06 - 11:59 PM (#1865424)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Peripherally related, since it's another "Google newby:"

Google just pushed an unrequested "toolbar update" on me that made most of the icons on the toolbar illegible, turned on the most restrictive "censor," and deleted the image search button.

All's well again, but it took a while to get things readjusted.

I note that they have added a prominent "login" button, on the assumption that you want an "account" where they can keep all of your links, favorites, and history on their servers instead of on your own machine - or so it looks.

John


22 Oct 06 - 07:19 PM (#1866003)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Herga Kitty

Thanks, McGrath!

Here's to the fair sex of Middlesex
And here's to Middlesex the fair
And here's to the middle of the fair sex
And by xxxx I wish I was there...

Kitty (born and bred in Middlesex)


22 Oct 06 - 07:27 PM (#1866011)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

Hey, Wolfgang. Did you google for folk music?
Interesting results.
1. Edmonton, Canada

2. Chicago, IL, USA

3. Elmhurst, IL, USA

4. Calgary, Canada

5. Vancouver, Canada

6. Edinburgh, United Kingdom

7. St Louis, MO, USA

8. Sheffield, United Kingdom

9. Philadelphia, PA, USA

10. Boston, MA, USA


I want to know who is googling folk music in Elmhurst, IL!


22 Oct 06 - 07:34 PM (#1866017)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

Who is googling for "folk song lyrics"?
Top ten
1. Makati, Philippines

2. Manila, Philippines

3. Boston, MA, USA

4. Seattle, WA, USA

5. Dublin, Ireland

6. Portland, OR, USA

7. Minneapolis, MN, USA

8. Sydney, Australia

9. San Francisco, CA, USA

10. Chicago, IL, USA


22 Oct 06 - 07:37 PM (#1866018)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: bobad

Here's the results for Vegemite

1.         Adelaide, Australia         
        
2.         Brisbane, Australia         
        
3.         Perth, Australia         
        
4.         Melbourne, Australia         
        
5.         Canberra, Australia         
        
6.         Sydney, Australia         
        
7.         Auckland, New Zealand         
        
8.         Vancouver, Canada         
        
9.         London, United Kingdom         
        
10.         Seattle, WA, USA


22 Oct 06 - 07:41 PM (#1866027)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

For "Irish Music" you get big peaks at St. Patrick's day in March.
For "Christmas Carols" it is pretty much a flat line except at Christmas, and most of the searches are from Australia!!


22 Oct 06 - 07:43 PM (#1866031)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

Here's a good one,
Bodhran!!!

1.   Dublin, Ireland

2. Halifax, Canada
                                                                                                                                       
3. Edinburgh, United Kingdom

4. Ottawa, Canada

5.   Manchester, United Kingdom

6. London, United Kingdom
                                                                                                                                 
7. Boston, MA, USA

8.   Birmingham, United Kingdom

9.   Seattle, WA, USA

10. Brentford, United Kingdom


22 Oct 06 - 07:46 PM (#1866037)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

Wow, banjos must be popular in Oz. The top five results are all Australian cities for "Banjo".

Geez, GOOGLE must be really used a lot down under! The top city result for who googles "Blues Music" is Melbourne, Australia.


22 Oct 06 - 07:54 PM (#1866043)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: bobad

Results for Al Queda

1.         Washington, DC, USA         
        
2.         San Diego, CA, USA         
        
3.         Austin, TX, USA         
        
4.         Los Angeles, CA, USA         
        
5.         St Louis, MO, USA         
        
6.         New York, NY, USA         
        
7.         Portland, OR, USA         
        
8.         Phoenix, AZ, USA         
        
9.         San Francisco, CA, USA         
        
10.         Dallas, TX, USA


22 Oct 06 - 08:01 PM (#1866051)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: autolycus

It's weird. When I googled tralee and dingle railway, for some reason beyond me, I got a load of stuff about the tralee and dingle railway.

Putting it another way,HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET STUFF ABOUT THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE,Paul?

Or is Paul famous for something?



As for the question,I'm practising relating. (Obviously I'm over 55.) I only google for wickets. (A cricket 'joke')




    Ivor


22 Oct 06 - 08:09 PM (#1866056)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

Slightly different results if you google for people who can spell "Al Qaeda".


22 Oct 06 - 08:14 PM (#1866062)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Alice

After the Madrid bombing, there must have been many more searches from Spain and South America for Al Qaeda.9


22 Oct 06 - 08:16 PM (#1866066)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: bobad

Results for Mudcat

1.         San Antonio, TX, USA         
        
2.         Bletchley, United Kingdom         
        
3.         Sheffield, United Kingdom         
        
4.         Manchester, United Kingdom         
        
5.         Edinburgh, United Kingdom         
        
6.         Birmingham, United Kingdom         
        
7.         Brentford, United Kingdom         
        
8.         Atlanta, GA, USA         
        
9.         London, United Kingdom         
        
10.         Washington, DC, USA


22 Oct 06 - 10:55 PM (#1866155)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Rapparee

There was a guy around here googling for sex, but the cops caught him and arrested him for peeking in people's windows.


23 Oct 06 - 10:19 AM (#1866472)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Amos

Google sometimes breaks up a phrase in spite of quotes containing the phrase, but I don't know on what criteria it does this. In any case if it did so in Paul's case he would have discovered this erudite article on the heat death of the universe. It is reportedly by a Dr. Dingle.


A


23 Oct 06 - 10:53 AM (#1866504)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: GUEST

I generally remove my goggles....


23 Oct 06 - 11:06 AM (#1866509)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JennyO

Who googles for sex?

Some people will do anything for sex!


23 Oct 06 - 06:29 PM (#1866777)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: autolycus

What,Jenny? Like get married,do you mean?


   Ivor


23 Oct 06 - 07:27 PM (#1866807)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Some people will do anything for sex!

Some people get a lot more from sex than others.(?)

?

John


12 Nov 06 - 08:06 PM (#1884267)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Having nothing useful to do the evening, I tried a Google for "Google" to refresh my memory about all the "options" and special searches available. The first half-dozen pages of returns might be of interest to those who haven't looked recently, although it sort of poops out if you go much further than that.

Google "Google" can be left as an exercise for the interested - or to those like myself with no real life and nothing to do.

It was noted, however, that the site linked by Wolfgang - "Google Trends" - didn't come up in my search.

Having "re-found" this thread, and checked out the link once again, I think the thread should have an additional round using the "compare" feature for "trends."

If two keywords are entered, separated by commas, a comparison of the two searches results.

As a trite example, I'll offer Sex, Money where we find people search a lot more about Sex, but news media (lower curves) talk little about it, while relatively few people actually search for Money, but the media reports much more about it than about what actually interests people.

Or am I misinterpreting the result?

I'll leave it to others to find some better comparisons, if anyone cares.

John


12 Nov 06 - 08:15 PM (#1884280)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: bobad

If you compare sex to folk music the latter comes out looking like a patient who should be disconnected from life support.


12 Nov 06 - 08:38 PM (#1884301)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

I thought about comparing Vegamite to something but I was afraid of the protests that "nothing compares."

John


12 Nov 06 - 09:13 PM (#1884316)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

It appears that if you search for trends: "Country Music, Folk Music" the Country Music dominates the determination of the localities that are reported, and Folk shows up pretty weak; but if you search trends: "Folk Music, Country Music" what's actually shown is the popularity of the two searches in localities where "Folk Music" is "biggest."

There also seems to be some difference if you search one term first, and then add the ", second term."

I think we could work up some seriously biased reports with this awareness, if it holds up to further trials.

John


12 Nov 06 - 11:31 PM (#1884394)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Genie

RE googlind for sex, John said: "A quick check on the "Trends" site shows Portland OR most interested city, US most interested region. (subject to all the disclaimers at the Trends site, naturally.)"

My immediate thought: "Uh, oh. BUSTED!"
;)


I did try googling myself once, but people told me it would make me go blind, so I quit.


13 Nov 06 - 06:57 AM (#1884532)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Big Al Whittle

Google.......the witch in King Solomon's Mines?

Classics Illustrated , those were the days....


13 Nov 06 - 07:00 AM (#1884535)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Liz the Squeak

That was Gagool.... close, but no shrunken head.

LTS


13 Nov 06 - 08:00 AM (#1884579)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Nick

Have you tried Google moon?

If not you might like to look a little closer...


14 Nov 06 - 05:40 AM (#1885356)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Michael

Nick, and we were always told it was GREEN cheese.!

Mike


10 Dec 08 - 09:12 PM (#2512215)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: JohnInKansas

Google's annual report on "most popular search terms" has been posted.

Since Google finds 257,437,829 hits for every search term, but allows you to see only the "most popular" hundred or so, some examination of the results may be an aid in crafting your own queries to get (or to avoid) the "herd hits."

Results, globally, on the first page are for "fastest rising topics," with – obviously – Sarah Palin leading all others. It should be noted that she appeared suddenly, rose rapidly, but went nowhere in particular; and for total searches is outclassed by several others.

You have to look in the other pages for more.

Separate results are posted for individual countries, and links at the side-bar take various "categorical views" of the results.

For those not inclined to hunting through the Google results, a "summary of the results" is also up at MSNBC News. The article gives little actual information, but offers interpretations identifying a few "summary categories" that might not be obvious while looking at the data ("most egotistical countries?").

John


11 Dec 08 - 04:52 AM (#2512390)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Naemanson

Huh! I checked Maine and my home town leads the pack!


11 Dec 08 - 05:29 PM (#2512990)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Bill D

In the couple of years since this thread was started, a better option for 'certain' searches has appeared....
Scroogle uses Google's engine, but keeps no records or logs and uses no cookies.

I read somewhere that Google 'could' stop them if it wished, but has refrained...


11 Dec 08 - 05:45 PM (#2513007)
Subject: RE: BS: Who googles for sex?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1

From Genie >>>"I did try googling myself once, but people told me it would make me go blind, so I quit."<<<


Can't type...laughing too much............................