British author Dave Gorman, fresh from his winning a bet to find 36 other people called Dave Gorman, sat down to write a novel, and instead, found that his website contained a Googlewhack.
The site and the book (“Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure”) describe what a Googlewhack is in quite some detail. Essentially, it’s inputting two search terms (not in quotes) to Google, which yield exactly one result.
Two other points to note:
- The words must be underlined (which confirms that they are words recognised in dictionary.com).
- The results page must not be a dictionary or wordlist itself.
Some current whacks featuring on the Whack stack are:
isopropanol warthog; subcutaneously telephonist; bathysphere transmogrification
So, armed with only a degree in linguistics, a passion for language, a quiet night at work, and access to Google, I thought I’d see what I could come up with.
Avuncular cubism – 18
Kleptomaniac hippopotamus – 69
Sesquipedalian daedalus – 5
Hippopotamus pantechnicon – 28
Egregious oligarchy – 1070
Toothsome weathervane – 5
Logarithmic baboon – 264
Overarching pantechnicon – 19
Brusque weathervane – 16
Tickling pantechnicon – 5
Trapezoid nepotism – 17
Toothsome epistemology – 8
Garrulous weathervane – 11
Pendulous sesquipedalia – 2
Toothsome epicentre – 5
Eschatological baboon – 32 !!!
Baboon renewal – 920 ???
Eschatological drainpipe – 3
Eschatological rhythm – 6
Eschatological weathervane- 4
Eschatological haematology – 1. Check Eschatological haematology in Google, or go to the Oxford University Gazette page which contains it.
Buoyed by my success, it was but a hop, skip and a jump to find two more within twenty minutes:
Kleptomaniac triskaidekaphobia Check Kleptomaniac triskaidekaphobia in Google, or go to theSyd the Kyd page which contains it.
Trapezoid lychgate: Check Trapezoid lychgate in Google or go to the Herefordshire.gov page which contains it.
Ah well, it filled a whole hour, and satiated my need to search for any more whacks. However, the book was extremely well-written, and very funny to boot. Highly recommended.
