# When computer searches go wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779 "2025-08-06T17:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [August 7, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/21 "2025-08-07T13:24:11Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > and more recently, after I got kicked off Amazon, when I would maintain the library’s account, I would look up the rare books I wanted to list, and instead get what was basically page after page of LuLaRoe knockoff women’s shirts. That totally sounds like the computer is infected with a browser hijacker. Which has nothing to do with searching as such. But sure fouls up your use of search. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/22 "2025-08-07T15:27:19Z")
I’m sure I’ve told this story before, but my wife used to be a merchandise buyer at a college bookstore. She and a coworker had gone to one of the industry trade shows and remembered visiting the booth of a company that had a line of bath products called “Dirty Girls”. Later on they tried googling that to get the name of the company so they could order some stuff, and pretty much realized as soon as they hit “enter” what they had done. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/23 "2025-08-07T16:11:12Z")
I’ve made the mistake of searching for New York’s Merkin Hall without including the word “hall.” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/24 "2025-08-07T16:55:58Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > At work, I tend to use a Linux extension called “StrokeIt” to enable mouse strokes - basically like macros for specific mouse movements. Occasionally a co-worker would see me close a window or go “back” in a web browser with a mouse stroke and ask how I did it. I always told them to search for “strokeit mouse” out of concern for what a search for “strokeit” would bring on their work computer. I remember reading something from a young woman whose grandmother was setting up some sort of social media account. The grandmother tried to register as “Jenny”, but that name was taken. The website suggested she put a number after it, like “Jenny5”. She thought it would be easiest to remember her age, so she started to register as “Jenny69”. The granddaughter immediately had to stop her, without wanting to explain why that would be a bad idea. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/25 "2025-08-07T17:35:11Z")
Because next year when she’s 70 she won’t remember which age she was when she created the account? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/26 "2025-08-07T17:52:56Z")
The Scottish band [Chvrches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chvrches) used that spelling so they would be found more easily in searches. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/27 "2025-08-07T20:53:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Bread? Live? Yes? Train? The Band? America? Free? !!! If these are all bands that you listen to, can I just say that your tastes are remarkably similar to mine? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/28 "2025-08-07T20:59:05Z")
For a long time, I had been trying to find a list of airlines of the United States. Googling “American airlines” did no good since there is an airline called American Airlines. Googling “U.S. airlines” inevitably turned up US Airways or United Airlines. But a Doper eventually steered me to a Wikipedia list. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/29 "2025-08-07T21:22:10Z")
I find that recently Google tends to be better in understanding what I search for than it used to. If I put the sentence “Where can I find a list of all the airline companies in the U.S.?” into Google, it tells me four websites that answer this question. It’s much better in understanding what you’re asking for than it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/30 "2025-08-07T21:36:49Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Googling “American airlines” did no good since there is an airline called American Airlines. At one time, probably like two decades ago now, there was a scam letter being mailed to people (yeah, actual snail mail) that promised if you signed up for whatever they were offering they’d send you a free ticket on “major American airlines” – clearly trying to make you think it was on the airline called American Airlines, but actually using a lowercase A, meaning “airlines in America” in the generic sense. I assume if you tried to take them up on the offer you’d get a voucher good for a flight on a random airline, but you must travel on a Tuesday at 2:00 am, requires a Saturday night stay, and every day is blacked out except for February 29. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779/31 "2025-08-07T21:43:17Z")
Or even that there was a tiny fly-by-night outfit called “Major American” that operated a small prop plane between Rantoul and Decatur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-computer-searches-go-wrong/1021779.md?page=1)