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For word lovers
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Spike
Memphis
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December 19, 2010 - 7:54 pm
Member Since: April 16, 2009
Forum Posts: 1187
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Want to see how the usage of millions of words has increased or decreased over the last 500 years?  Well, ok, maybe you didn't realize that you did, but you will.  Google Books Ngram Viewer will see to it.

Link to the viewer:

http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/

 

Here's how it works: Put in a word like "teenager" and discover that the term was almost unused until the 1950s.

 

...can track when people started talking about "arugula," and when they stopped talking about "pork & beans."

 

What can I say, I waste a bunch of time on interesting but oddball stuff.  I should be doing laundry.  (Ngram tells me that use of the word "laundry" was almost nonexistant before 1800, but as of 2000 it is a most  popular word.)

"…you just keep on trying 'til you run out of cake."

Finkbug
Maine
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December 20, 2010 - 5:43 am
Member Since: August 9, 2010
Forum Posts: 468
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I spent far to long playing with this when it went live. First chased neologisms and spoonerisms but spent most of the time on Anglo-Saxon/Norman pairs like tit/breast. Teenager is an ace choice, must try it! and threat, to see if has a 50-60s bump as part of red threat. The possibilities are endless.

grooowrrrr! [menace menace] rrrrowwwr!

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xtal
planet
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December 20, 2010 - 9:19 am
Member Since: April 19, 2009
Forum Posts: 1685
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Wow, that's an awesome tool. That new bookmark will fit nicely beside Wolfram.

Thanks, Spike!

 

The first thing I thought to trend was Vampires, Zombies and Cowboys, from the 1930s to 2008. The results are surprising.

If being wrong's a crime I'm serving forever

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