Google has recently started correcting my searches. Not content merely to suggest alternative options when it thinks I’ve misspelled or mistyped my request, the World’s Smartest Pigeons have now started replacing my search with Folgers Crystals auto-corrected terms…and yes, I do notice.
I find this irritating on several levels. Among them:
1. I am, by nature, a good speller. It’s rare for me to mistype a word, especially in a search, and although I appreciate the “Did you mean” feature I don’t want pigeon logic thrust upon me from the get-go. I am smarter than a fifth grader and also more intelligent than the average winged rat.
2. My searches often involve odd, antiquated or strangely-spelled terms. As you know, I write historical fiction and The Day Job We Do Not Speak Of also requires a fair amount of unique research. 9 times out of 10, the pigeons are just plain wrong. (Refer to comment #1.) Forcing me to re-select my original search term slows me down. Only by a few seconds, but why superimpose an unnecessary level on what was previously a perfectly good process?
Please do not break the unbroken. It irritates me, and you won’t like me when I’m irritated.
3. The modern trend toward Nannydom bothers me enough when I see it in government and education. For the moment, private industry remains an island of personal responsibility in a rising sea of hand-holders and nose-wipers (who insist on taking care of those who do not need or want their assistance). Please – for the love of sanity and fluffy kittens – let me learn from my fail!!
That said…this morning I went online to pay my automobile registration. As always, I typed “California DMV” into Google, and the very first result was the website for the California Department of Motor Vehicles. As I prepared to click the link, however, I noticed that it seemed lower on the page than it usually does.
At which point I noticed the line above it – a love note from the pigeons.
Showing results for California DMV. You typed: California DMB.
Which left me wondering if I really am that dmb after all.