Sure, I've Used the Google

Here's the latest batch of quirky Google search strings that led some of you here to Verbatim:

pms 370 - sort of an olive green:

babysitting slogans - Hmm, how about, "I'll watch your kids as if they were my own! Which of course they couldn't be, since I'm only 15!" or "OMG! Your kids can watch TV while I text with my BFF!"

lets eat chalk! - OK, you go first and let me know how it goes. But first, put an apostrophe in let's, if you don't mind.

stomach bug morning only throw up - I don't know how to break this to you, but, um, that might not be a stomach bug....

whom am i kidding - Not me, that's for sure! "Whom am I kidding?" is indeed grammatically correct (whom is the direct object of kidding), but it sounds awfully fancy-pants, so I can't recommend you actually say it out loud.

correct grammar who shall i say is calling? - By George, I think she's got it! Take out the shall I say part, and you're left with "Who is calling?" (not "Whom is calling?"). Or, think of it this way: "Who shall I say is calling?" is the same as "I shall say who is calling?" You wouldn't say "I shall say whom is calling?" just as you wouldn't say "I shall say him is calling"—both are object pronouns and you need a subject for is calling.

wainwright iii vincent black shadow - I think you must mean "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," a gorgeous song by Richard Thompson that has been covered by a number of artists, but not Loudon Wainwright III, as far as I know.

Comments

[Erin]

I'm pretty sure that even if someone spells with correct punctuation and capitalization, it won't show up in the search strings that show for you. They're normalized by the search engine to match the text that has also been normalized in their indexed documents. Computers are stupid about punctuation--it's not meaningful to them and a lot of processing tools consider punctuation marks metacharacters*--so when we're processing text we usually just strip it out so it doesn't confuse the computers.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacharacter

[Wendy]

Oooh, I heard Del McCoury does 1952 Black Vincent last October, and I practically swooned. Golly, that's a great song.

[Karen]

That doesn't happen in this case. When I check my "Keyword Analysis," I see search strings that include punctuation if the searcher included it -- for instance, I just checked and someone found me today by Googling "karen she's a silver sun" (from the James Taylor song).

[Elena]

I just listened to that song on my iPod the other day (the JT song) and I thought of you because you've mentioned it in your blog.

[Joel]

That Beth Wood CD I recommended to you, "Late Night Radio", also has a version of "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" on it.