Canteen Worker
First Grader
By Peter Williams in Auckland
May 23, 2006
IN line with the stereotype, New Zealanders lead the world in Google searches for the word "sheep".
They're also number two for looking up "porn".
But hold the jokes: Australia is respectively second and fourth on the global list for searching such words on the world's leading internet search engine.
The saving grace – perhaps – for Aussie and Kiwi men is they are numbers one and two at typing "girlfriend" in the search field.
Rankings for any given word on Google's Trends web page launched earlier this month are made according to its percentage of total searches from each country.
Despite the interest in porn, neither Australia or New Zealand make the top 10 for "sex", a group led by Muslim nations Pakistan and Egypt.
The Tasman neighbours are also missing from the "romance" search top 10, which is led by Chile and the Philippines.
Unsurprisingly, New Zealand tops the world in "rugby" searches, with Australia's variety of football code appreciation leaving it in fifth place.
Aussies rank fifth for "football" but are way out in front under "footy" and "surfers".
Australia is also number one for "blokes" but, in a signal of dying slang, comes only a distant fourth for "sheilas".
Ireland is on top for "lonely", with New Zealand third and Australia fifth.
Google says the Trends page is in the early stages of development and is based on only a portion of searches, with several approximations used when computing results.
The rankings reflect searches made since 2004.
Individual cities can also be contrasted and the popularity of words compared against each other by separating them in the search field by commas – such as coffee, tea.
"For the first time ever, Google is making it possible to sift through billions of search queries from around the world to see what people are thinking about," Google executive Marissa Mayer said when the service was launched.
The page can be found at www.google.com/trends.
:blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh:
May 23, 2006
IN line with the stereotype, New Zealanders lead the world in Google searches for the word "sheep".
They're also number two for looking up "porn".
But hold the jokes: Australia is respectively second and fourth on the global list for searching such words on the world's leading internet search engine.
The saving grace – perhaps – for Aussie and Kiwi men is they are numbers one and two at typing "girlfriend" in the search field.
Rankings for any given word on Google's Trends web page launched earlier this month are made according to its percentage of total searches from each country.
Despite the interest in porn, neither Australia or New Zealand make the top 10 for "sex", a group led by Muslim nations Pakistan and Egypt.
The Tasman neighbours are also missing from the "romance" search top 10, which is led by Chile and the Philippines.
Unsurprisingly, New Zealand tops the world in "rugby" searches, with Australia's variety of football code appreciation leaving it in fifth place.
Aussies rank fifth for "football" but are way out in front under "footy" and "surfers".
Australia is also number one for "blokes" but, in a signal of dying slang, comes only a distant fourth for "sheilas".
Ireland is on top for "lonely", with New Zealand third and Australia fifth.
Google says the Trends page is in the early stages of development and is based on only a portion of searches, with several approximations used when computing results.
The rankings reflect searches made since 2004.
Individual cities can also be contrasted and the popularity of words compared against each other by separating them in the search field by commas – such as coffee, tea.
"For the first time ever, Google is making it possible to sift through billions of search queries from around the world to see what people are thinking about," Google executive Marissa Mayer said when the service was launched.
The page can be found at www.google.com/trends.
:blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh: :blaugh:
