What are the odds?

[arjaybe]

Stories are thoughts that make good words.

That phrase popped into my mind. Seven words. It occurred to me to wonder about the likelihood of the phrase being original. With just seven common words, what are the odds that they've never appeared in exactly that way before?

I googled it.

stories are thoughts that make good words got a lot of hits, but none of the snippets showed the full phrase.

stories+are+thoughts+that+make+good+words also got a lot of hits, possibly the same ones. Maybe the two search terms are functionally identical.

"stories are thoughts that make good words" got no hits. Zero. The exact phrase was not found out there.

Does anyone have the google-fu to improve the search? I don't, but somebody must.

[gmw]

Well, you probably need to search other languages too.

And the fact that the phrase is not showing up in the search right now is problematic because we know it exists to be found - maybe in another few days or a week for Google (etc.) to catch up?

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by gmw

Well, you probably need to search other languages too.

And the fact that the phrase is not showing up in the search right now is problematic because we know it exists to be found - maybe in another few days or a week for Google (etc.) to catch up?

Yeah, that's right. I've tainted the search by putting it here.-)

[gmw]

Google now finds the phrase you posted above (and nothing else). DuckDuckGo (my preferred search engine) has not found it yet.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by gmw

Google now finds the phrase you posted above (and nothing else). DuckDuckGo (my preferred search engine) has not found it yet.

Startpage is not finding it either. (didn't that use to be iQuick?)

[gmw]

I'm not familiar with iQuick, and I've only ever glanced briefly at Startpage, so can't help you there.

DuckDuckGo is now finding the OP, but curiously only gives it third place after two pinterest links. I can't see the phrase in the linked pinterest pages, but don't want to sign up just to check it out any further.

[arjaybe]

Startpage did use to be iQuick, which was touted as non-tracking, privacy-respecting, etc when it came out. Similar appeal to DDG's. Still no hits on Startpage.

I can confirm your DDG hits. Bing gave me a bunch of hits, none of which looked as if they would have the exact quote. Google itself hit this thread and nothing else.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a search engine that didn't include hits from places that want something from you?

[gmw]

Ha! That would leave a lot of empty search results.

[arjaybe]

Yeah.-) Startpage is hitting this thread now.