As I find funnier and funnier terms that every day lead people to find my blog from search engines, I thought I’d share the oddest and most frequent ones, inspired by a recent blog post on Justice in Conflict. I’ve just made up the acronym O.O.S. to refer to people’s Odd Online Searches. These tend to show that we now use search engines like a source of answers to any kinds of questions going through our minds …a sort of modern Bible (although most of the times, we do not find answers that make any sense to us or that help us at all!). I doubt many of us realise that blog owners are able to trace these search terms (although we don’t know who entered these search terms!) – surely, it was a surprise to me when I first noticed trends in online searches leading people to my blog!
The most frequently searched terms
1. i don’t care what the people may say - this search term features in many forms! It makes me wonder whether people are actually looking for the lyrics of Eliza Doolittle’s song (as in my post featuring those terms) or whether they actually search advice or thoughts on caring about what people say?! Matter of fact is, that due to the popularity of this online search, this blog post has oddly become the most visited of my entire website!
2. chagall - which would have led visitors to view this post on Chagall.
3. bin laden - linking to the post on Bin Laden’s death.
Now…read these odd terms / combination of terms entered by people:
- was pack up your troubles in your old kit bag in the film my fair lady? (this makes me seriously laugh: the search terms show that clearly Eliza Doolittle’s name as an artist, inspired by the character played by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady has confused a great number of people!!! In fact, many people have searched for the song lyrics in combination with the name ‘Audrey Hepburn’!)
- proper english lady (not sure if this visitor was happy with what they found on my blog!)
- coffee shop queue graph ( I surely have no queue graphs relating to coffee shops on my blog! Looks like this visitor was engaged in deep sociological research…)
- torino brothel (… now, just because my hometown is Torino and I spoke about Italy’s demonstrations against Berlusconi’s brothels…it does not mean I am an authority on brothels in Torino. Someone looking for “something to do” while in Torino must have been disappointed in finding my blog!)
- bangunan segitiga (I have NO IDEA what that means, hopefully nothing inappropriate or offensive…and how that relates to my blog…can anyone help??)
- red protective gloves (now this search has to be one of my favourites! Doubt the visitor was expecting to find my Kandinsky-inspired glass painting!)
- metaphysical reaction death of bin laden (someone was into deep thinking …)
- kandinsky tattoo (wow! Someone looked at my glass paintings inspired by Kandinsky to find inspiration for a tattoo!)
- more clouds covering the earth study (is this a new meteorological phenomenon I was not aware of? Surely my post about beautiful clouds from the airplane does not help to prove such theory!)
- i was too busy killing osama bin laden (surely you were not THAT busy if you had time to look it up online! This must be the most curious / odd search of all: wonder if I should report this one?! …It might contribute to trace those responsible for Bin Laden’s death! Or maybe I should keep it top secret…)
“Bangunan segitiga” means triangular building in Indonesian. Hope that helps, ’cause I’ve got NOTHING else to offer!
I’ve seen some really disturbing search combos. Unfortunately, they also tend to have either foul language, or worse yet, REALLY disgusting connotations, so I won’t belabour you with them here.
And I’m still trying to get the picture of a dolled-up Eliza Doolittle hefting a duffel bag onto her shoulder out of my head. Thanks!
Seriously?! Actually, other people have searched ‘triangular building’ in English too… Ahaha yes I think the singer needs to seriously consider whether she made the right choice when adopting Audrey – Eliza Doolittle’s name! Love that film, by the way!
Love this post! In the early days of my blog I got people who stumbled on my blog while looking for either of the following “Mistress in Abu Dhabi” or “Mistress in Libya”
I like your new acronym
and this was a fun post to read. That’s an impressive list you’ve got going there, from brothels to Osama bin Laden.
Eh eh … I know!
When I did a similar exercise, I was also surprised what actual search questions lead people to my blog: http://andreasmoser.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/how-to-find-my-blog/
Sounds like this blog is the go-to place for bin laden updates… The world of google is a strange and curious place.
Ahahah absolutely! Thanks for visiting my blog, yours looks really interesting – will spend some time reading it now!