# Google Books NGram Viewer



## y.painting (Jul 19, 2009)

I'm sure most of you guys have heard/used google trends - put in a keyword and see the search volume for that word on Google over time.

Well the new Google Books NGram Viewer is a similar concept except you can go back from the 16th/17th centuries to the present and search for any English word and get a trend for its use in published materials over time.

The NGram uses data from the massive number of books Google has scanned in and digitized over the past few years. Put in any English word and define a time period and you will see the prevalence of that word in published materials over time. Really cool to mess around with.

Here's an interesting one I did for "house painting" and "vinyl siding" from 1900 until present:









You can also search for the origin of entire phrase...like "lowball price" Apparently it dates only to the early 1980s...I wonder what they used before then for the term?


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## 2buckcanuck (Dec 14, 2010)

I just tried the word "GAY" it went off the charts in the 1980's.so either people were really happy,or gay
I wonder which meaning they were using:whistling2:


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## y.painting (Jul 19, 2009)

2buckcanuck said:


> I just tried the word "GAY" it went off the charts in the 1980's.so either people were really happy,or gay
> I wonder which meaning they were using:whistling2:


probably has to do with the new use of the word around that time.


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## 2buckcanuck (Dec 14, 2010)

y.painting said:


> probably has to do with the new use of the word around that time.


actually,I think they meant GAY in the happy way,I typed in drywaller,and it went off the chart at the same time:yes:


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## nEighter (Nov 14, 2008)

That is cool Y.


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