This says a great deal about the Internet, and Western Civilisation.

[bunn]

I ran a search for 'Homer'.   I was looking for the author of the Iliad. 

This is what I got : https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Homer&hl=en&prmd=imvnsb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mrcKUI6uGqP80QWp1Ly-Cg&ved=0CI4BELAE&biw=1600&bih=756

It made me laugh. Oh, Google Images search, why, WHY do you fail to read my brain this way?

Comments

[adaese.livejournal.com]

I wanted to know more about Alboin, king of the Lombards recently, so asked Google about Alboin Lombard. The wretched engine took it upon itself to alter Alboin to Albion.

Now I can understand that most people, on typing in the name "Alboin", did in fact mean to type "Albion". But if you immediately qualify that by also searching for "Lombard", this should surely provide some gentle hint that you actually meant Alboin, and are not interested in dozens of addresses with names like Albion House, Lombard Road?

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Annoying, but the 'auto-spelling correct' gets it right more often than it gets it wrong, and it's only one click to say "no, I knew exactly what I was typing"...

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Actually, depending on the kind of things you search for and how good your typing is, it can get it wrong pretty darn often!

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

I'm obviously a boringly normal person, then, since it almost always correctly spots and fixes my numerous typos! Just another reason why I lurve google. -Neuromancer

[sally_maria]

I find Google is great for spell-checking unusual words or people's names, the kinds of things that don't appear in spell-checker dictionaries. I just do a quick search, and if I'm spelling it wrong it'll tell me.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That is quite useful. Where I often find I am struggling is when I am searching for someting that has multiple genuine meanings, and the one you want is the obscure one. Then you have to try to guess what other terms might appear next to it, which can be quite fiddly.

The image search is the worst, because with that, you are not only trying to guess what the obscure meaning of the word is, and what other obscure words might appear next to it, but also what words other people with pictures of the thing you want might use to describe it, which can seem to require a great deal of telepathy. :-/

[sally_maria]

Yes, I do know what you mean - sometimes it seems as if a lot of Linux software is designed with names that are intended to make it difficult to google.

Image search often throws up the oddest things for me, even if I'm not struggling with - no, I don't mean a mint plant, or a mint sweet...