# How do I ask this question on Google? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737 "2022-07-11T00:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/1 "2022-07-11T00:11:45Z")
I am looking for info about a singer that used to appear on Portland Public Access a decade or so ago. Strange goggle eyewear and he wore a head covering that was shaped like a lobster. No matter how I phrase the question I first get responses about Portland in general, then restaurants that serve lobster, then places that have boat access etc. etc. etc. How do I phrase the question to get what I want? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/2 "2022-07-11T00:28:24Z")
Was it Pontifex vonHummer? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/3 "2022-07-11T00:32:02Z")
_YES!!_ Thank you!! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/4 "2022-07-11T00:38:42Z")
17 minutes flat! All Hail @The_Other_Waldo_Pepper !! In the era of Wiki, FQ doesn’t have quite the mission it used to, but it’s truly magic for queries like this. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/5 "2022-07-11T00:42:40Z")
Pontifex vonHummer is Portland’s answer to the question, “Gee I wonder what would happen if Cat Stevens dropped acid?” [(1) Killer Caribbean Queen - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3dCxHSECeU) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/6 "2022-07-11T07:18:13Z")
I’ve had luck (sometimes) using the “-” option. For example, if you do your first request and find it has a lot of cites about restaurants and boats, the repeat the same request but add -restaurant and -boat. That should exclude any hits that include those keywords. Repeat, adding additional undesired keywords with - and sometimes this can help narrow down the results and be more helpful. Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/7 "2022-07-11T12:17:30Z")
Just for curiosity’s sake, I did find it by Google. I searched: portland public access singer goggle “lobster” -restaurant and the first result for me was a thread from Reddit/Portland. I did Ctrl+F to find the word “lobster” in the thread. It appeared twice, and the second time it appeared in the thread, the poster mentioned “von Hummer.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/8 "2022-07-11T14:38:51Z")
OK, that was more success than I had, trying “KOPB” as one of my search terms (having already determined that those were the call letters for Portland’s public access television). At least, I assume that it was Portland, Oregon you wanted, not Portland, Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/9 "2022-07-11T14:46:37Z")
It is Portland, Oregon, but Portland public access television is not the same thing as KOPB(Oregon Public Broadcasting). Here is the difference: [Public-access television - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-access_television#Distinction_from_PBS) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/10 "2022-07-11T16:52:58Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > For example, if you do your first request and find it has a lot of cites about restaurants and boats, the repeat the same request but add -restaurant and -boat. That should exclude any hits that include those keywords. > > Repeat, adding additional undesired keywords with - and sometimes this can help narrow down the results and be more helpful. > [@yearofglad](#): > > I searched: > > portland public access singer goggle “lobster” -restaurant > > and the first result for me was a thread from Reddit/Portland. I did Ctrl+F to find the word “lobster” in the thread. It appeared twice, and the second time it appeared in the thread, the poster mentioned “von Hummer.” FWIW, I found it by adding instead of subtracting: the singer’s public-access work “a decade or so ago” apparently made an impression on Czarcasm; and, well, Czarcasm has been posting here for _decades._ The guy was bringing stuff to the Dope’s attention so long ago that a Tom Cruise sequel was the highest-grossing movie of the year, if you will. So if you plug “public access” and @Czarcasm into the SDMB’s search — well, you promptly get one of the half-dozen or so times that he’s posted about Pontifex vonHummer, is all. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/11 "2022-07-11T17:35:07Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > So if you plug “public access” and @Czarcasm into the SDMB’s search — well, you promptly get one of the half-dozen or so times that he’s posted about Pontifex vonHummer, is all. The conclusion is inescapable. @Czarcasm _is_ Pontifex vonHummer. This thread and his earlier posts are just him trolling (in the fishing sense, not the jerkwad sense) for online attention, clicks, and revenue. Have you ever seen them both in the same place at the same time? Neither have I. Hmmm. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/12 "2022-07-11T18:17:03Z")
Not fishing-For some reason I just keep forgetting his name…though I have to admit to never seeing myself and him in the same room at the same time. I’ll have to look into that. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/13 "2022-07-11T18:27:31Z")
> [@yearofglad](#): > > portland public access singer goggle “lobster” -restaurant Why do you have the quote marks round the single word (“lobster”) ? I thought that was only used for phrases. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/14 "2022-07-11T19:18:29Z")
It stops Google from saying “Including search results without lobster”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/15 "2022-07-11T20:36:36Z")
So it appears the quoted single word is now the replacement for what used to be the leading + symbol. It means this word is required. Is that accurate? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/16 "2022-07-11T22:22:21Z")
Exactly. It forces the quoted word to be required in the search. If it’s a phrase, it requires the phrase _verbatim_ in the search. (Well, verbatim except for punctuation and whitespace. I’ve seen phrase search returns that had the phrase as words in consecutive sentences, or even consecutive paragraphs.) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/17 "2022-07-11T23:58:38Z")
If I recall correctly, Google deprecated the + meaning when they were pushing their Google+ social network. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-ask-this-question-on-google/967737/18 "2022-07-26T21:09:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Not fishing-For some reason I just keep forgetting his name…though I have to admit to never seeing myself and him in the same room at the same time. > I’ll have to look into that. Any progress on that ?