Friday, December 20, 2013

Ngram Readings Pundit

Two good things I ran into i.e. came to know of existence, today.
One of them is Google Ngram, a statistical tool to search through historical (1800 to as recent 'historical' as 2008) referencing of phrases.

A few engaging ones

Everest vs Godwin Austen vs K2 vs Kanchenjunga vs Lhotse vs Makalu

http://goo.gl/mG7OFq


- Everest 'peaked' in its popularity right after the '96 disaster.
- Everest has actually gone down in popularity over the years. this means less public conscience it holds. This means less selling power. I'd not be surprised to find the sponsorship and endorsement going down with falling numbers.
- News travels fast (but depends on who you are): Let us see where second-highest, K2 peaks. It has a distinct single maxima, which means it peaked only once, which was upon its first ascent, in 1954. But the fame came in 1963-64, almost 10 years after that event. Compare that to the Everest, which also peaked and found great mention (even in public media) right after its first ascent, in 1953 (then it peaks again because of '96). In case of the Everest, however, it took a mere 2 years to make it peak in popularity. See who commands!
- Lhotse, coincidentally began its flight of fame, due to the missions at the Everest. It reached its peak the same year it was sumitted, but that peak probably came because of its building mention from earlier, making it a tempting peak in the same massif as the Ev.
- Makalu and Kanchenjunga are equally active (or inactive), but not dead like "Godwin Austen", former name for K2. Beyond Everest and K2, nothing sells. Frenzy sponsors, sad mountaineers.

Mt Everest vs Mt Blanc

http://goo.gl/YQ2MpN

- Mt Everest and Mt Blanc reflect a emotional story of two brothers who, from their days of playing in brooks and trampling through meadows, grow apart, and how! Everest, the elder one, tries to carry Blanc to as far as he could, but then lets go. Or maybe Blanc let go as he fell into a life of depression and chaos.. maybe Blanc is the elder one, who knows? Wearing a sweater the same rgb value as Blanc, I belive Blanc's the elder one. Hah...
NOT

Cold War vs Aliens vs Russians vs UFO

http://goo.gl/dKTeTc

- Etymology tells that aliens has always existed. The world was persistently putting it out at the same volume, year after year. But it spiked, twice, which was in the past 100 years. First was in the aftermath of the First World War, but WWI doesn't have to do with it. Its etymology reveals, "Meaning 'not of the Earth' first recorded 1920." This fits well with the 1922 peak, when it became a more exciting concept - the colloquial usage continues today. The second was around 2000, maybe because crappy serials and Project SETI were popular. Then 9/11 happened.
- More people want to talk about the Cold War than Russia these days. However, Russia towered over Cold War in the Cold War days. In terms of association value, Russia would've sold more, but now Cold War does. Online, even negative terms generate content and clicks, hence profits.
- UFOs never got too popular, but us in the aftermath of their crazy we'd like to believe the otherwise.

Mahatma Gandhi vs Lata Mangeshkar vs Sachin Tendulkar 

http://goo.gl/1Aoygs

- MKG is the man! He's out of league of our present greats, by the way of fame and cash. It would seem paradoxical that Gandhi is less of a brand; in terms of moolah advertisers rake, Sachin and Lataji would be way over. In the short-sightedness, we fail to see that Gandhi has a greater sway in another sphere - when it comes to political systems. Being the foundation figure to many NGOs, villages, states, and nations, he establishes a market's business expectations. Billions of dollars - in human, geographic, and financial - are involved.
- But zooming in to Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar, we get a more engaging game, a game into which Lataji got into late-1940s, and has been consistently rising for 63 years. She was more popular than Tendulkar till as recent as 2003. It is also baffling to see Tendulkar debuting in 1985, and, in 2003, trumping a then-53-year-veteran in mere 18-years.
- Ms. Mangeshkar rises has a drastic fall in 1998-99 season, right after her peaking in 1997. The peak was kinda sudden, as well, caused by the ball-breaking success of Dil To Pagal Hai (DTPH). [I could also endorse to her mellifluency in DTPH] Maybe she did few crappy moviesin 1998, which became her undoing. But what about Dil Se?!

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