A wag of the finger to Google

[emmagrant01]

So I was googling looking for a way to convert milliliters to fluid ounces, and this is what Google asked me:



Millimeters to ounces? WTF, Google? I mean yeah, I left an "l" out of the word I was searching on, but still. Units? Bueller? o_0

EDIT: MDH has the screencap software, and when I asked him to cap this for me, he did his own search. HE is the one who misspelled it as milileters; I spelled it "mililiters" and got the same result. But I made him do it again and spell it like I did, and the new image is above. :-D

Comments

Millimeters to ounces

[mtnjoy.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see them try!

Re: Millimeters to ounces

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know! :-P

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Actually, Google's algorithm searches for the closest word possible based on spelling given. "Millimeters" is closer to "milileters" than to "milliliters".

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Actually, MDH has the screencap software, and when I asked him to cap this for me, he did his own search. HE is the one who misspelled it as milileters; I spelled it "mililiters" and got the same result.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Then it's likely dependent on search frequencies; it's likely that more people have searched for "millimeters" than "milliliters", Google will pick the more popular term. Semantic searching is about 5 years away, I'd wager: wagging a finger at Google in this case is assuming it's supposed to intuit what you mean when you misspell something. That's not how it works, is all.

P.S. You don't need software to make a screencap. Hit Print Screen on your keyboard, open your favourite image editor, hit Paste, crop and save. :)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I do know that's what's going on; I just find it funny that it's so nonsensical. ;-)

I've never been able to get that to work for me. I use a 2002 version of Fireworks, but I can't seem to make it do screen caps.

[brightsun301.livejournal.com]

RE: print screen

Does it actually try to print? If so then you held it too long. Just gotta tap it. ^_^

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

I generally paste the print-screened image into MS Paint, and it works just fine--very simple.

Also, google does have a built-in converter.
I googled, "1 oz = ?ml" and it comes back with the result. ;D
(1 US fluid ounce = 29.5735297 ml) [I didn't even use the quotes in my search term]

;D

ohh

[zadik.livejournal.com]

This is very cool - I'll remember that. I have a little program otherwise, but that seems much faster. :)

screen cap

[zadik.livejournal.com]

I used to have problems too, until I started using Adobe Photoshop. Now I don't want to make any advertising, but the above mentioned process by furiosity ("Hit Print Screen on your keyboard, open your favourite image editor, hit Paste, crop and save.") works precicely in this way.
And it doesn't matter what Firefox version (or any other program) you use. There might be some slight conversion problems (sizes) when you do this from PowerDVD picture, but everything else works splendidly.

[o-chan.livejournal.com]

that's because you wrote mililEters.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Actually, MDH has the screencap software, and when I asked him to cap this for me, he did his own search. HE is the one who misspelled it as milileters; I spelled it "mililiters" and got the same result.

[o-chan.livejournal.com]

oh really?! wow.. Ok. That's weird then..

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I made him cap it again, with the spelling I used. ;-)

[lucubratrix.livejournal.com]

Only when you put quotes around your search!

"convert milliliters to ounces" as a search, with the quotes, gives you the weird result.

Without the quotes, convert milliliters to ounces gives you a calculation that's what you want.

[lucubratrix.livejournal.com]

Err, and that should have been eloiselovelace.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I did it without quotes and left an "l" out of milliliters, and that's what I got. Just did it again and got the same thing.

[cheshyre]

So what results does it give? How many millimeters are in an ounce? :)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

No idea. :-P

[liesbyomission.livejournal.com]

As an answer to your question, onlineconversion.com is awesome. :) Also, you can enter something like "100 mL in fluid ounces" as the search query (without quotes) and Google will convert it for you.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

That's the site Google directed me to, and it was what I needed. :-)

[fluffenbax.livejournal.com]

well that is because you are spelling it wrong, yeah? millilitres....if you type in

convert millilitres to ounces, it shows you conversion...heh...the "" still fuck it up and give you the promt you got reguardless of spelling...heh...fuck""

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

We spell it milliliters here in the US. I left off an "l" and it directed me to something weird. :-P

[fluffenbax.livejournal.com]

wait, do they really spell liter like that in the states? i never noticed, i never drink anything that has litres on it...i have always spelled it litre...but i have always spelled theatre like that as well...lol...i am american by the way...heh

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yep. The only "re" word like that is "theatre", and in that case it specifically refers to the "theatre business", the business of producing and putting on plays. Otherwise, it's a movie theater, or going to the theater, etc.

[girlthatsaidno.livejournal.com]

I googled it and it worked fine? O_o? Here is what I got,


1 milliliters = 0.0338140226 US fluid ounces


Maybe Google likes me ;)

[batagur.livejournal.com]

Length is to volume as one dissimilar thing is to another dissimilar thing. *G*

...Except cubic centimeters... That's volume.

[kheha.livejournal.com]

me: What is the density of France?
Google: 110

I do not joke. (http://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+density+of+france)

[ms-mindfunk.livejournal.com]

it makes me scratch my head too. Maybe it has to do with how mm = cc? When measuring liquid meds, I can see someone trying to convert from mm to oz. Other than that, I have no clue.