Viva la Difference

Google Suggest is, if not always revelatory about the human condition, then at least strangely fun for its voyeuristic quality. What does the voyeur observe? As Josh Levin put it in Slate two years ago, Google Suggest "creates an endearing portrait of a throng of befuddled seekers." This morning, in the course of doing some decidedly unacademic research on the basic difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims, Google Suggest told us what else the world is trying to differentiate. Grammar takes the top spot of a list that also includes technology, economics, mental health, and cellular biology.

Google Suggest completions for "difference between," beginning with the highest ranked:

difference between affect and effect
difference between plasma and lcd
difference between dvd-r and dvd+r
difference between white and brown eggs
difference between college and university
difference between brown and white eggs
difference between socialism and communism
difference between recession and depression
difference between psychologist and psychiatrist
difference between mitosis and meiosis

The list is surprisingly devoid of pop culture. (We might well ask Google the difference between Taylor Swift and Taylor Hicks—though most culturally literate people probably don't need Google's help for that.) The narrative suggested by the list is interesting: having purchased some new home electronics, one begins to wonder just how bad the economy is, then tries to figure out what sort of mental health professional to see.

More puzzling: eggs are causing a lot of angst. If not for the same question posted two different ways, might shell color turn out to be the most pressing global mystery of our time?