Inspired by another blogger’s mapping of the United States based on what Google autocomplete suggests when you type “why is _____ so” in the search box, a guy in Atlanta recently compiled the same information for the top 50 U.S. cities by metro area population. (H/T The Atlantic.) The idea is that, since Google presumably draws these suggestions from the most common searches by others, it gives us a sense of the most commonly held stereotypes about these places.
(Though, since so many end up associated with the words “boring” or “humid” or “hot,” it may actually confirm some of our stereotypes of those who conduct such Google searches: slackers who hate going outside?)
Anyway, here’s what he found for Dallas:
He writes, “Windy? Otherwise, dead-on.” I’m guessing that the perceived windiness may be a result of that run of extra-windy days we seemed to have earlier this year. I’ve already addressed “boring,” though I’m sure you’ve heard it said that while Dallas is a great place to live, you wouldn’t want to visit here, so that might factor in as well. We can’t dispute the “hot” or the “cheap.”
But that’s just Google. What’s “decision engine” Bing think of us?
Hey, that’s better. The Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau should make Bing the city’s official search engine. (Or maybe they already have?) It’s certainly nice to be both “great” and “popular.” Our long-suffering friends down in Houston would scoff at the idea that we’ve got any humidity here.
Now let’s see what Yahoo! has to say:
So we’ve seen most of this show before, except now we’re “important.” At first I thought “upset at the hospital” signified that all the recent trouble at Parkland had made a world-wide-web impact, but then I read that last suggestion and I realized those searches are about S.E. Hinton’s book, or possibly Matt Dillon’s performance as Dallas in the film adaptation.
I ran other searches on area locations and institutions to see what would turn up. Here are some of the more notable results:
Funky town?
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Looks like TCU is winning the battle of the private school reputations.
Southwest continues to be better regarded than American, but they’re getting to be more alike.
Surprisingly, “why is Exxon so much richer than God” didn’t show up.
All good questions.
Guess the team maybe needs a new webmaster.
