Growing up I was one of those kids who read the encyclopedia for fun. The set my grandparents owned was 30 years out of date, so not everything in it was still true. It didn’t matter. I still loved learning about the world one bite-sized essay at a time.
The nice thing about the Internet is that the information on it is (usually) much more current.
The less nice thing about the Internet is that everyone has something weird in their search history.
Writers, though, might be a little stranger than most. There are a lot of things we don’t know about the world that our characters have already figured out. The easiest way to bridge that gap is by googling whatever it is they know and you don’t. The following search phrases are real. I can only hope that someone will be kind enough to delete my search history if I’m ever unable to erase it myself.
Cat wearing a baby bonnet. The gif has a link to the site where I originally found it. I wanted to know if the person who dressed up this cat still has all of their original fingers. 😉
When did the first Harry Potter book come out? I thought it was 1995 or 1996. It was actually ’97.
Is Beyonce really part French? Several years ago there was a controversy over her acknowledging her white ancestors in an ad. I just found out about it now because I’m apparently way behind on my pop culture shenanigans.
What makes meat so delicious? and Why is red meat bad for your heart? I’ll bet you can’t guess what I was craving this weekend.
How many couples only have sex once a month? I read an article that claimed most couples are only doing it a few times a month…if that. It made me wonder.
Asian country where people go to KFC on Christmas? It’s a tradition in Japan that I read about a while ago but couldn’t recall which country it was or why the people there love it so much.
Is there really a dog in Amsterdam who delivers lost items to people? This video lead me to believe there is one in their airport. Sadly it lied.
What’s your chance of developing schizophrenia if both parents have it? This was part of a story idea that never panned out. The answer was about 40% if I recall correctly.
Babies born without corpus callosum. I was suddenly curious about what happens to them. Hint: it’s tragic. Don’t google it.
Why does Doctor Who hate guns? This is what happens when your spouse is a huge fan of a show that decides to give their main character a quirk without explaining why.
Can two Geminis date? My mind came up with this one all on its own.
Your turn now. What have you googled recently that’s a little out of the ordinary for you?
(I got the idea for today’s post here).
I was going to give you a brief list from my search history, but upon reviewing it…no, I’m keeping that to myself.
Ha! Will you give hints at least? 😀