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#9769 - 06/12/05 01:42 PM
Careful Googling!
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pugmum06
Member
Registered: 10/16/04
Posts: 826
Loc: ...next to them!
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This is somewhat comical so I thought I would share.
Yesterday as I was working on my last report for the day, I heard the dr. state under Impression, "Russell-Sykes." I was thinking, oh, that must be some weird eponym. I looked in a couple of my reference books and did not find the term. So I googled. Sure enough, tons of hits for Russell-Sykes were there. I ALMOST let it go at that and used the term, but something inside just did not quite feel right. I began looking at the Google listed sites (I love Google, by the way) and soon realized that just seeing the name (I know, how dense can I be, but I was tiiiiirrreeed) is not enough! Sure enough, there are LOTS of Russell Sykes around, but I guess they are people, not diseases or medical conditions! 
Back to listening I ventured to find that this particular patient suffers from RESTLESS LEGS.  Big difference, eh?!
Kelli
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#9770 - 06/12/05 01:59 PM
Re: Careful Googling!
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GabrielleC
New Member
Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 12
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What a great point!!!!
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#9771 - 06/12/05 02:34 PM
Re: Careful Googling!
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 5931
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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Yep, no matter how many times it gets said here, it still bears repeating. Google is not an authoritative reference. Google just looks to see if the words you enter in a search have ever appeared anywhere at any time in any document it indexes in the bajillions that are now out there on the web. Somewhere someone will have made almost every error and typo you can imagine on a web page. In fact, several hundred people may have made the same one. (After all, you aren't sure what's right, or you wouldn't be looking. Why do you think absolutely everyone else in the world who might ever have typed that word knew the right way and did it correctly?)
Google is great for narrowing things down or finding some useful hints using context when you are totally at sea. Once you find something on Google, though, you need to verify it in an authoritative medical or English reference. I can find 113,000 hits on Google for "per say." That doesn't mean that is an acceptable spelling of "per se."
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#9772 - 06/12/05 02:39 PM
Re: Careful Googling!
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AnnR
Member
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 18414
Loc: Ocean Park WA
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On the Word Board there is a recent post "Telsa or Tesla MRI" Tesla is correct, it is an eponym, only one correct way to spell it. Yet there are over 700 hits for "Telsa", and on the first page alone there are quotes from Mayo Clinic, NYU, and Ohio State! Carelessness is everywhere, and it's up to the googler to make sure they are getting the right info.
I probably shouldn't quote myself, but look at what I found when researching "Pleur-evac" for a recent thread:
Quote:
Who knows, there may be a copycat device out there, but the manufacturer definitely spells it Pleur-Evac (or evac). If you Google around, you will find a real mess: 2 for pluravac; 1 for plurevac; 161 for plurovac; 149 for pleuravac; 405 for pleurevac; 183 for pleurovac; and varying numbers for all of the above hyphenated!
That being said, I think my fingers would fall off if I couldn't Google!!
Edited by AnnR (06/12/05 02:53 PM)
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#9773 - 06/12/05 03:08 PM
Re: Careful Googling!
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 5931
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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I actually prefer Dogpile or Metasearch for many searches, but I agree that I would never want to go back to the day when one couldn't run a global search on the web for puzzlers. It's just that you need to understand how to use the results as well as how to do the search. 
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#9774 - 06/12/05 03:23 PM
Re: Careful Googling!
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AnnR
Member
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 18414
Loc: Ocean Park WA
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One needs to take a brain along for the ride, whatever engine one is riding on!
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#9775 - 06/14/05 06:49 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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mptang
Member
Registered: 10/24/99
Posts: 3143
Loc: Freedonia
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Good one, Ann! 
Had an MT transcribe “puma stone” last week and I always thought this was careless misuse of spellcheck in choosing *a* word with the letters resembling the sound while not knowing the pronunciation of the word, what the word meant, or if it fit the context. But if you Google “puma stone,” you’ll find a bunch of knuckleheads using that spelling.
Another random Google hint is if the word you’re looking for is a purchasable item, chances are it’s for sale somewhere, so Google will have a sponsored link to the right of your search results. If it’s not there, better take another run at that spelling for good measure.
Enter “puma stone” – no sale; enter “pumice stone” – viva consumerism!
Also you can use the wildcard feature on the first letters of your search “pum* stone” while meditating on pumiceous rocks and Lava soap.
Besides in the English language, “puma” is pronounced pyoo-muh (or poo-muh), never pum-muh. So unless you have a mountain loin performing your foot care, for the love of God, please check your references better and only use Google to jump start your search.
And like any other addiction – search responsibly. Know when it’s time to dial back that click finger and hit the books.
p.s. Kelli, I’ve also had that “Russell-Sykes” syndrome and it’s usually from a doc trying to perfect his Bogey impression. Knock it off, buster, or we’re gonna send you on a long limo ride with Betty Bacall to Tuesday Morning. Pumice stones for everyone! 
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#9776 - 06/14/05 08:44 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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Jabberwocky
Member
Registered: 08/10/03
Posts: 382
Loc: Mumbai, India
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Quote:
So unless you have a mountain loin performing your foot care...
You got it all wrong. Never heard of "puma stone"? Those rocks the mountain lions go to, to scratch their butts?
This reminds me of the "Franciscan Munk" I encountered a few days ago.
The conversation that followed:
"What is this, some kind of a chipmunk?"
"No, but I documented it on Google, so you can't charge an error for it."
**sigh**
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#9777 - 06/14/05 09:19 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 5931
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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To which the proper reply is: "You're right, this isn't just an error, it's willful stupidity added to boneheaded ignorance, with failure to check with a real authority and refusal to listen to the voice of experience thrown in. That 10 points off for Googling without a net, 20 points more for arguing it is excusable, plus an additional 20 as a penalty for increasing my blood pressure so much that it's going to raise the cost of medical benefits for us all. Your QA score on this document is now 50. Still want to argue about whether this is an error??"
(In my opinion, any decent QA system allows for double deductions for aggravation.) 
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#9778 - 06/14/05 09:36 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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Cleo2
Member
Registered: 06/28/04
Posts: 2699
Loc: Birdwell Island-PBS
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It's bad enough when Googliers research their way into something they think is correct for their own work but it really gets me when they pass on well-intentioned but incorrect "searched answers" as expert advice to posters looking for help. I remember a recent post where someone replied with an answer and said they didn't know what it meant but wouldn't hesitate to use it! I so love the advice that comes from those with miles and miles of experience under their belts. We have a couple of these brillant gems here. While they may use the net to validate something they already know, they don't heavily rely on backing into answers with search strings. Please don't get me wrong; help is always nice, expert help priceless.
_________________________
Cleo
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#9779 - 06/14/05 11:33 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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Montyna
Member
Registered: 07/30/02
Posts: 452
Loc: NW Montana
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I think as time goes by google will become less and less valuable as a research tool as the internet grows. In the next few years some sort of filtering tool to weed out all the junk is going to needed to find anything.
The few trustable, worthwhile sites are going to be buried amongst all the average know-nothing-Joe sites out there.
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#9780 - 06/14/05 11:46 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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AnnR
Member
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 18414
Loc: Ocean Park WA
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Sturgeon's law applies to the Internet too!
_________________________
so many docs dictate stuff that makes sense only to them. . .
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#9781 - 06/26/05 07:53 AM
Re: Careful Googling!
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mainely mt
Member
Registered: 02/15/02
Posts: 346
Loc: maine
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When I started compiling my list of favorites for research info as a newbie, I used to check into another MT website for tips (I didn't know about this one then). Google was the one everyone swore by, so I looked it up. Never having used it before, I somehow ended up with OneLook Dictionary Search, which, when it finds a word for you will list it under different uses, i.e. Medical, Technical, Business, and any other type of use that word may have. It has been a very valuable tool in my daily on-the-fly word searching, and I would be absolutely lost without it! I've since tried Google, and it's another useful tool for tough searches, but my first choice has always been OneLook.
One other way I sometimes look things up is to just type the word in the address bar, something I did in frustration one day with a word I couldn't find even on Google! It's surprising what one can find that way, but, as with Google, you need to be careful.
_________________________
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller
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