For today, I wanted to record a quick observation I had while Googling. It’s also a reminder that choosing the correct search terms can drastically change what Google returns to you.
If I Google for the period symbol (.), I get back results for the phrase “full stop punctuation.” I know this because the words “full stop punctuation” are bolded in the returned Google page. Here’s a screenshot in case that changes:
Note that the links aren’t terribly interesting – I don’t see any links to punctuation or style guides, just pages with the words “full stop punctuation.”
Now interestingly, if I search for the words “period punctuation”, I get back a small context box explaining to me what a period is used for in writing, as well as a list of punctuation and writing guides:
As you can see, a minor change in search terms dramatically changes what you get, even if both terms mean largely the same thing.