The proliferation of the Autocomplete function on popular Web sites is a case in point. Nominally, all it does is complete your search query - on YouTube, on Google, on Amazon - before you’ve finished typing, using an algorithm to predict what you’re most likely typing. A nifty feature - but it, too, reinforces primness.
How so? Consider George Carlin’s classic comedy routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” See how many of those words would autocomplete on your favorite Web site. In my case, YouTube would autocomplete none. Amazon almost none (it also hates “penis” and “vagina”). Of Carlin’s seven words, Google would autocomplete only “piss.”
►http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/you-cant-say-that-on-the-internet.html
