Google, that ultimate research tool

[tahnan]

It's blank verse blog week, for those who didn't know. Nevertheless, I'm not posting this in blank verse, because I'm writing about a few particular constructions in English and transforming them into blank verse would, well, kill the point.

I've been trying to poke at the lexical meaning of the word inquire, and whether one can inquire something if one knows the answer already. This involved Googling for phrases like "though * already knew" or "although * already knew" appearing on the same page as "inquired".

What I learned is this: people ask things although they already know the answer. Mostly they do this in fanfiction. (In fact, I suspect people do it outside fanfiction; but the vast majority of my results were fanfiction.)

Terrific. I did find the construction in use, but I really, really hesitate to cite in a linguistics paper the sentence "Are you that sore back there from our lovemaking?" Xena inquired, although she already knew the answer.

I did find a few things I can cite, including the minutes of a town meeting in Cicero, Indiana, and a food critic's column from a New Hampshire newspaper. (And I am citing a few works of fanfiction.) But, man, I'll be happy when I can effectively search published literature for phrases instead.

Comments

[drastic.livejournal.com]

Have you tried wrestling with Amazon's book-text search thingamajob? Or does that still fall within the realm of ineffectively searching published literature?

[flynngrrl.livejournal.com]

Did you try searching the online classic fiction libraries? You might get a hit off of Dumas or something... I think they let you search text.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Darn you and your logic. It's not the most efficient search, but I did turn up a Piers Anthony quote, which is a small step above fan-written smut. (I also got War and Peace, as well as the idea to search Google for "inquired rhetorically", which turned up Star Wars: A New Hope, which is a small step above Piers Anthony.)

[jadelennox]

As quite the connoisseur of smut that's writ
by fans, and once, in youth misguided, was
unfortunately quite well read
in Xanth, I promise you that Piers's style
is not a step above. His petty smut
-- girls' panties -- beats Domlijah for piss poor.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

What's funny is the way that, in my mail,
This looked just like a sentence, and it read
Like English, not like blank verse. Anyway,
I meant those judgments not about the style
Or quality or readability,
But this: respectability. I fear
That Piers, who has been published, may be held
In slightly higher general regard,
And that would be my main concern for this.

(And also I should add, in my defense,
The fiction I was reading from that search
Was not the smut that's read by connoisseurs.
You're welcome to perform the search yourself.)