September 25, 2005
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Buzz Yahoo
Seeking Meaning in Search
Thursday September 22, 2005 3:00AM PT
Good ol’ Noah Webster knew a good thing when he saw it — nothing satisfies the curious mind like a word defined. That remains true even today in the world of Search. Apparently, a lot of you have sold your 20-pound OEDs on eBay and now rely on the Search box to look up words.
Dictionary Searches
Whether it’s a three-dollar word tossed around at congressional hearings or the latest journalistic jargon, confounding words are ubiquitous.
Let’s look up the top 10 entries in the Search lexicon…
- Define Refugee – “Refugees” vs. “evacuees” became one of the early debates in the Katrina aftermath.
- Define Levee – They broke in Katrina’s wake and now these structures are etched in our collective knowledge.
- Define URL – Uniform Resource Locator. Seriously, though, that’s so 1995.
- Name Definitions – What’s in a name? That’s exactly what you should find out before choosing one for a baby.
- Definition of Information Technology – You’re using it right now.
- Definition of Globalization – Many of us are still trying to figure out if that’s a good word or a bad word.
- Definition of Literature – Anyone see the news about those low Verbal scores on the SATs?
- Definition of Love – It’s what the world needs now, of course.
- Definition of Ethics – It’s pretty scary when we need to look this one up.
- Define Ideologue – Judge Roberts says he’s not one, but some senators beg to differ.
- Define Refugee – “Refugees” vs. “evacuees” became one of the early debates in the Katrina aftermath.
