Googlewhacks

Poststructural Pub
1

Googlisms are amusing, but Googlewhacks are where it’s at.

  1. Visit Google. Submit a query of two words, but don’t use quote marks. (Quotes tell Google to find the enclosed words immediately adjacent - and that’s just too easy!) Use no punctuation in your words, and no numbers (just 26 letters from A through Z).

  2. Find two words that return only one result.

The official Googlewhack repository is at:

http://www.googlewhack.com/

I first learned about Googlewhacks when a friend from England sent me Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure, a hilarious book:

http://www.davegorman.com/googlewhack.htm

The rules of Googlewhacking (edited from those shown at googlewhack.com):

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  1. Your two words must each exist in Google’s dictionary links that appear on the top of the page.

  2. Google also is the arbiter of a whack’s uniqueness. Look to the right end of the blue bar atop your Google results. If you see "Results 1 - 1 of (any number),’ you found exactly one hit = Googlewhack!

  3. Google shows you an excerpt of the page you whacked. Look at that text. If it’s merely a list of words (such as a bibliography, concordance, encyclopedia, glossary, thesaurus, dictionary, domain names, or plain old machine-generated random garbage), No Whack For You!

Have at it! Maybe we can come with some Irish music related Googlewhacks.

2

Ambinocular familiarity.

Does that work? I’m not sure I completely understand the rules.

3

Dave Gorman did a television show based on his book. I had a go at it and I got a result.I was amazed that it could happen but it did…
The only problem was that when I woke up the next day,I could not remember the two words I put in.

There was drink involved on the night :blush:

Slan,
D.

4

Sort of like the big one that got away, eh? :wink:

5

The story of my life alas..

Slan,
D. :wink:

6

“Ambinocular” isn’t in Google’s dictionary – it isn’t a link where google says “Results 1 - 1 of 1 for Ambinocular familiarity.”

I just found one: bodhran scrumptiousness

http://www.googlewhack.com/tally.pl

7

Cranberry, if you get “Results 1 - 1 of 1 for Ambinocular familiarity.” both words have to be blue like this “Ambinocular familiarity”, not like this “Ambinocular familiarity”. They have to be underlined—that is, they are linked to the special Google dictionary. So I got a result like yours. It said “Results 1 - 1 of 1 for… …” but only one word was blue so the other word was not linked to the Google dictionary. So that means you got Googlejack. When you get one where both words are in blue, then go to the page at the Googlewhack website that says “Record your whack”. If you have made a mistake it will tell you. But you are supposed to try to get it right at the Google site first.

8

Ok…I think I understand. Possibly. This is all so complicated to be a “simple” game. :laughing:

9

Here’s another: pennywhistle contemptuousness.

10

I’m still tryin’. :laughing: You can sure find out about a lot of weird things this way.

11

Pennywhistle Ketones

gets you one Googlewhack-eligible hit, entitled:

Captain’s Log

bringing us full circle to the whole Star Trek whistle-mystery thing. And further, the link brings you to a page that’s been “deleted and purged”, so there’s that whole Crystal People element.

Who’d’ve thunk “Stickleback Ischemia” would get you 77 hits? The world is a strange place, at least as filtered through Google. . .

And it’s not like I believe the Crystal People really exis/////////////\\////////\////////////

12

The fun part is the ephemerality: shortly after a whack is recorded (and Google crawls the updated googlewhack site, and bloggers invariably pick up on the phrases they like), it will no longer be a true whack.