You know how when you start typing something into Google, it’ll sometimes try to finish the rest of your sentence for you? Apparently Google’s Auto Suggest function works by using the most common and trending searches to guess what you’re looking for. (Fun experiment: go to Google and type in “How can I…” and see how people are really spending their free time.)
Anyway, someone had the bright idea of using Auto Suggest to come up with a list of city stereotypes. The method is brilliantly simple — just type in “Why is [city name] so…” and let Google fill in the blanks to give you a sense of what the most popular searches are.
Many are predictable (Why is Buffalo so cold/depressing, Why is Los Angeles so polluted/popular, Why is New York City so expensive/great, etc.). Others are weirder: Why is Dallas so windy? Why is Tampa Bay so depressed? Why is Jacksonville so smoky?
Baltimore’s fill-in-the-blanks are, well, predictably unflattering:
why is baltimore so bad
why is baltimore so dangerous
why is baltimore so poor
why is baltimore so ghetto
An unfair characterization! I say we all go to Google and type in a few searches to alter our results. “Why is Baltimore so cute?” “Why is Baltimore so clever?” “Why is Baltimore so useful?” Just please no “Why is Baltimore so quirky?”
Pure genius!