Is there a word for when you are attempting to google something but can't find the necessary phrase/key words...
I occasionally run in to the problem. Generally when I'm attempting to achieve something in programming which I know to be possible and also is likely to have been accomplished before. I generally find my specific problem is obviously not going to appear but to frame the problem in general terms makes it almost unintelligible to a person, never mind google.
As an example - "How to check relevance of changes in each attribute to changes in the result"
Sadly attempting to Google the word to describe this phenomenon yielded no answer, possible in a very meta example of the described problem.
single-word-requests
New contributor
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I occasionally run in to the problem. Generally when I'm attempting to achieve something in programming which I know to be possible and also is likely to have been accomplished before. I generally find my specific problem is obviously not going to appear but to frame the problem in general terms makes it almost unintelligible to a person, never mind google.
As an example - "How to check relevance of changes in each attribute to changes in the result"
Sadly attempting to Google the word to describe this phenomenon yielded no answer, possible in a very meta example of the described problem.
single-word-requests
New contributor
1
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
1
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
1
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
I occasionally run in to the problem. Generally when I'm attempting to achieve something in programming which I know to be possible and also is likely to have been accomplished before. I generally find my specific problem is obviously not going to appear but to frame the problem in general terms makes it almost unintelligible to a person, never mind google.
As an example - "How to check relevance of changes in each attribute to changes in the result"
Sadly attempting to Google the word to describe this phenomenon yielded no answer, possible in a very meta example of the described problem.
single-word-requests
New contributor
I occasionally run in to the problem. Generally when I'm attempting to achieve something in programming which I know to be possible and also is likely to have been accomplished before. I generally find my specific problem is obviously not going to appear but to frame the problem in general terms makes it almost unintelligible to a person, never mind google.
As an example - "How to check relevance of changes in each attribute to changes in the result"
Sadly attempting to Google the word to describe this phenomenon yielded no answer, possible in a very meta example of the described problem.
single-word-requests
single-word-requests
New contributor
New contributor
edited 5 hours ago
GerardFalla
73710
73710
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asked 10 hours ago
AlexAlex
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1
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
1
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
1
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
1
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
1
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
1
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago
1
1
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
1
1
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
1
1
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago
|
show 1 more comment
2 Answers
2
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oldest
votes
We say that your search terms are too broad. You need to find a narrower search term.
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
add a comment |
There probably isn't a single word for this.
As TRomano suggests, a too broad search will give you vast quantities of unrelated hits.
Compare:
How to program in C++
How to open an input stream in C++
The first will get you lots and lots of hits, and somewhere in there probably you will find, after heroic efforts, the information from the second.
But several other things are possible. For example: Used the wrong name for the concept. Recently I wanted to know how to write a good scripting language. So I searched for this
how to write a good scripting language
And I got tons of hits on how to break into writing for TV. Along with tons of references to existing scripting languages such as Python, PERL, and JAVA. But when I changed my search to this
how to implement a domain specific language
then the search results had ten useful hits right at the top. There are many ways to express this. Mis-focused search, inaccurate search, poorly targeted search, conceptually inaccurate search, terminologically inaccurate search, etc.
Generally, if you search for a phrase that the Google search people have noticed being searched for, you are going to get useful hits at the top. Otherwise, you will be in relatively uncharted territory. So this means terms like out of bounds, unexpected, into unprepared territory, etc.
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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2 Answers
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We say that your search terms are too broad. You need to find a narrower search term.
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
add a comment |
We say that your search terms are too broad. You need to find a narrower search term.
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
add a comment |
We say that your search terms are too broad. You need to find a narrower search term.
We say that your search terms are too broad. You need to find a narrower search term.
answered 10 hours ago
TRomanoTRomano
15.1k21943
15.1k21943
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
add a comment |
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
That would apply if you were getting too many hits to the wrong topics so that the answer you wanted was buried in many other hits. It would not apply if the thing you really needed was not called what you thought. So even if you looked at a huge number of the hits your search found you would not find what you wanted.
– puppetsock
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
@puppetsock: So OP is asking for a word that means "I don't what the word for this thing is?"
– TRomano
5 hours ago
add a comment |
There probably isn't a single word for this.
As TRomano suggests, a too broad search will give you vast quantities of unrelated hits.
Compare:
How to program in C++
How to open an input stream in C++
The first will get you lots and lots of hits, and somewhere in there probably you will find, after heroic efforts, the information from the second.
But several other things are possible. For example: Used the wrong name for the concept. Recently I wanted to know how to write a good scripting language. So I searched for this
how to write a good scripting language
And I got tons of hits on how to break into writing for TV. Along with tons of references to existing scripting languages such as Python, PERL, and JAVA. But when I changed my search to this
how to implement a domain specific language
then the search results had ten useful hits right at the top. There are many ways to express this. Mis-focused search, inaccurate search, poorly targeted search, conceptually inaccurate search, terminologically inaccurate search, etc.
Generally, if you search for a phrase that the Google search people have noticed being searched for, you are going to get useful hits at the top. Otherwise, you will be in relatively uncharted territory. So this means terms like out of bounds, unexpected, into unprepared territory, etc.
add a comment |
There probably isn't a single word for this.
As TRomano suggests, a too broad search will give you vast quantities of unrelated hits.
Compare:
How to program in C++
How to open an input stream in C++
The first will get you lots and lots of hits, and somewhere in there probably you will find, after heroic efforts, the information from the second.
But several other things are possible. For example: Used the wrong name for the concept. Recently I wanted to know how to write a good scripting language. So I searched for this
how to write a good scripting language
And I got tons of hits on how to break into writing for TV. Along with tons of references to existing scripting languages such as Python, PERL, and JAVA. But when I changed my search to this
how to implement a domain specific language
then the search results had ten useful hits right at the top. There are many ways to express this. Mis-focused search, inaccurate search, poorly targeted search, conceptually inaccurate search, terminologically inaccurate search, etc.
Generally, if you search for a phrase that the Google search people have noticed being searched for, you are going to get useful hits at the top. Otherwise, you will be in relatively uncharted territory. So this means terms like out of bounds, unexpected, into unprepared territory, etc.
add a comment |
There probably isn't a single word for this.
As TRomano suggests, a too broad search will give you vast quantities of unrelated hits.
Compare:
How to program in C++
How to open an input stream in C++
The first will get you lots and lots of hits, and somewhere in there probably you will find, after heroic efforts, the information from the second.
But several other things are possible. For example: Used the wrong name for the concept. Recently I wanted to know how to write a good scripting language. So I searched for this
how to write a good scripting language
And I got tons of hits on how to break into writing for TV. Along with tons of references to existing scripting languages such as Python, PERL, and JAVA. But when I changed my search to this
how to implement a domain specific language
then the search results had ten useful hits right at the top. There are many ways to express this. Mis-focused search, inaccurate search, poorly targeted search, conceptually inaccurate search, terminologically inaccurate search, etc.
Generally, if you search for a phrase that the Google search people have noticed being searched for, you are going to get useful hits at the top. Otherwise, you will be in relatively uncharted territory. So this means terms like out of bounds, unexpected, into unprepared territory, etc.
There probably isn't a single word for this.
As TRomano suggests, a too broad search will give you vast quantities of unrelated hits.
Compare:
How to program in C++
How to open an input stream in C++
The first will get you lots and lots of hits, and somewhere in there probably you will find, after heroic efforts, the information from the second.
But several other things are possible. For example: Used the wrong name for the concept. Recently I wanted to know how to write a good scripting language. So I searched for this
how to write a good scripting language
And I got tons of hits on how to break into writing for TV. Along with tons of references to existing scripting languages such as Python, PERL, and JAVA. But when I changed my search to this
how to implement a domain specific language
then the search results had ten useful hits right at the top. There are many ways to express this. Mis-focused search, inaccurate search, poorly targeted search, conceptually inaccurate search, terminologically inaccurate search, etc.
Generally, if you search for a phrase that the Google search people have noticed being searched for, you are going to get useful hits at the top. Otherwise, you will be in relatively uncharted territory. So this means terms like out of bounds, unexpected, into unprepared territory, etc.
answered 5 hours ago
puppetsockpuppetsock
1814
1814
add a comment |
add a comment |
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1
In slang terminology, some people would say that they have poor (skill at) Google-fu . . .
– Jason Bassford
10 hours ago
1
Try googling "sensitivity study" or "statistical correlation"
– Jim
9 hours ago
Sounds like you want a word for the phrase "weak Google-fu". See: english.stackexchange.com/questions/19967/…
– L. Scott Johnson
8 hours ago
Is it a word for trouble with a specific search, or a word for lack of google-skills in general?
– Stefan
8 hours ago
1
Are you referring to searching when you lack the specific jargon to find the problem? Like trying to implement inheritance in a class but not knowing what you're doing is called "inheritance".
– tk421
6 hours ago