Duuuuuuuuude: like, an analysis, right.
(A study of global usage of words of the form 'duu*de')
Ever wondered how many u's should be used in the word duuuude? Well now we know.
These data came from google.com on 20th February, 2006. Repeating the same experiment gave fairly different results each time, but we can still speculate wildly about the meaning of the graph. Its features and my related conclusions are explored below.
- Initial Peak. The initial peak, of course, represents
the number of occurences of the word 'dude' out there. The word 'dude' remains the most popular of all its
derivative forms - nobody should be afraid to use it.
- Secondary Peak. The second peak is at x=4, i.e. the word
'duuuude' is more popular than 'duude' or 'duuude' (although
'duuude' comes a close second and may beat 'duuuude' on repeat runs
of the experiment). I guess this is because some people wanting to
emphasize 'dude' slightly, have a tendency to avoid 'duude' lest it
be considered a typo, or maybe because they just don't consider it
emphasized enough. Either way, if you would like
to type a slightly-extended dude, use four u's.
- Primary Trough. The second peak is followed by a trough.
We can deduce that it's simply not fashionable to type words such
as duuuuuuuuuuude, with more than 7 but fewer than 16 u's.
Don't do this. Get a life and join the
short-duuuude or
long-duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude
camps.
- Exponential Decay (wow!). Note that between
approximately 'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude' (20 u's) and
'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude' (40 u's) the graph
appears roughly linear. As the scale is logarithmic, what this is
really showing is an exponential decay. This pattern would support
a behavioural model of someone typing a long
'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude' by holding down the 'u' key.
However, after each 'u' is added, they have a fixed but small
probability of getting bored (or deciding that enough is enough)
and letting go of the key. When typing long
'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude's therefore, it is
considered normal to follow this model and simply hold down 'u'
until you've had enough.
- Noise Floor. Finally, above 'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude' (40 u's) the exponential decay pattern continues, but we see an increasing amount of random noise enter the data due to the small quanitities of search hits involved. The noise seems to originate from single sources which have been copied onto multiple web pages, for example the peak at 'duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude' (66 u's) results from some wild crazy person using it as their signature when posting to 'Magic The Gathering' forums. Wow. Think what you like about this.
If you are interested, you can inspect the raw data and dirty kludgy harvesting script yourself.
That concludes this little study. I hope you have found it interesting and informative, and that you are impressed by the rich benefits that information technology and mathematics offer our modern society.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.
Now go visit my ambient techno/electronica/psytrance music page instead - if you like home-made ambient techno/electronica/psytrance, that is. Or my rock climbing site if you like rock climbing. C.