“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different.”
-Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country
I recently discovered a fun thing: make your own searches in Google Trends.
Google Trends provides a 10+ year graph of how often a word or phrase has been searched on google.com. One of my first attempts was my favorite baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, who – for many years – were mediocre before their recent resurgence and World Series championship.
But wait, there’s more! You can also compare multiple search terms to see which is more popular over time. The possibilities are endless! Enjoy my very first “social commentary via Google Trends.”
Elbow room is much more popular than elbow grease (lazy punk kids – what’s wrong with the world?). However, elbow room is trending downward (maybe as millennials and boomers move to the cities?), and elbow grease is gaining momentum (as they build DIY compost bins and make gluten-free bread from tree bark).
I’ve compared colors, celebrity couples, sports teams, modes of travel, hair styles, dog breeds, body parts, etc. It’s fun. Go play with it.
Brian Chandler 