Google’s search suggestions can be extremely useful both as a way of saving you the hassle of typing in a whole sentence and also in giving out ideas to help you search. But the suggestions also provide an insight into some of the absurd, creepy and downright bizarre queries that people make on a regular basis.
How users of the World Wide Web receive these suggestions varies, from improving the quality of search and spelling, to an invasion of privacy… with strange, weird and downright hilarious in between! Even using the world’s number one website (Google) isn’t without safety concerns – as criminal activity lies in wait for those unaware of the dangers. To learn how to protect yourself from online threats, see this list of safety software for your best options.
“How to hide a dead body”
This search term would be a fairly incriminating piece of evidence at your murder trial, no? Amazingly though on at least one occasion, this has genuinely happened. In 2012, a University of Florida student was found guilty of murdering his roommate after asking the iPhone intelligent personal assistant Siri, where he should hide the body. Unfortunately it may not be the last time – this query is searched around a 1,000 times every month.
“Why does my girlfriend hate me?”
Asking Google personal questions like this feels a little redundant. Your girlfriend probably hates you because you spend your time Googling things like “why does my girlfriend hate me?”
“How to have an affair”
If you’re going to search for this one make sure you delete your browser history. Or better yet, end your relationship. Shockingly this term is searched more than 5,400 times every month.
“Is a banana a herb?”
You probably remember being shocked to discover that a tomato is actually a fruit – that’s because fruits are defined as developing from the ovary on the base of the flower and contained seeds of the plant. So while they are used in cooking terms as a vegetable, technically speaking they are a fruit. But is a banana a herb? Sounds ridiculous, right? But again we are on the issue of scientific definitions. A herb is defined as developing from a plant that does not have any woody tissue and banana trees don’t have this. That means that a banana actually is a herb.
“How to win the lottery”
Anyone who has ever seen Bruce Almighty will know that if everyone knew how to win the lottery, it wouldn’t be much of a lottery. That doesn’t stop 40,500 people searching for the answer every single month.
“How to search on Google”
The monthly search volumes are quite surprising. “How to search on Google” gets around 1,000 searches, but there are also a number of related terms: “How do I use Google” is searched around a 1,000 times, while “How do I Google something” gets an average of 4,400 searches monthly.
“Is Ebola real?”
It seems that many people believe the conspiracy theory floating around that the Ebola virus is not real. This myth originated due to mistrust in governments and authorities in Africa which led many to believe that the vaccinations that people were being given to prevent the virus where actually causing the virus. Unfortunately Ebola is very real.
“Is McDonalds open on Christmas?”
It seems a shame that anyone needs to ask this question.
“Can you eat mouldy bread?”
Or this one.
“Can a man get pregnant?”
It might seem quite obvious that no man can get pregnant. That at least applies to men with male sex organs. Interestingly, however, transgender men have successfully given birth. Some transgender men choose to retain female sex organs despite living life as a man through hormone treatments.
One famous case is Thomas Beatie who has successfully given birth to three children. It has also been suggested that it may be possible to transplant a uterus from a woman to a man. However, this procedure has not yet been attempted in medical science. So maybe this search isn’t ridiculous, after all. It receives an average of 2,900 monthly searches.
“When will I die?”
Apparently, Google receives this search query 49,500 times every month. Google may be an exceptionally powerful search engine, but its algorithm hasn’t quite advanced to the point where it can see the future just yet.
