Take An Old Browser to a New Search Site Day
Tomorrow, of course, is April Fools’ Day, that day when you spend any trust you’ve built up over the year in order to make your friends and relatives feel gullible (funny thing — did you know “gullible” isn’t in the dictionary?). Anyway, you’ll want to be extra wary, especially if you haven’t had your coffee, if you see tech headlines in the morning like “Google to buy South Dakota” or “Larry Ellison goes in for gender reassignment” or “New Microsoft product hailed as breakthrough.” The fine tradition of the reportorial gag has translated well into new media, and you should expect to see a lot of sites have fun with it (except GMSV, of course, where the usual straight face will be maintained).
You may not know, however, that this year, April 1 carries a new designation as well. The site AltSearchEngines has declared it the first annual Day Without Google — or at least Google search. Not that the site has anything against the search sovereign, but it’s urging habitual Google users to break the routine for one day and try using any of the 100 alternative search engines that it will list in the morning. Just don’t trust any headlines in the results. And if you want to get an early jump on celebrating, today is Run Some Old Web Browsers Day, according to a site that has revived the home pages of the Mosaic Communications Corporation and built an extensive archive of old Netscape browsers.
Gullible IS in the dictionary!!
Dictionary
gullible |ˈgələbəl|
adjective
easily persuaded to believe something; credulous : an attempt to persuade a gullible public to spend their money.
DERIVATIVES
gullibility |ˌgələˈbilitē| noun
gullibly |-blē| adverb
ORIGIN early 19th cent.: from gull 2 + -ible .
THE RIGHT WORD
Some people will believe anything. Those who are truly gullible are the easiest to deceive, which is why they so often make fools of themselves.
Those who are merely credulous might be a little too quick to believe something, but they usually aren’t stupid enough to act on it.
Trusting suggests the same willingness to believe (: a trusting child), but it isn’t necessarily a bad way to be ( | a person so trusting he completely disarmed his enemies).
No one likes to be called naive because it implies a lack of street smarts (: she’s so naive she’d accept a ride from a stranger), but when applied to things other than people, it can describe a simplicity and absence of artificiality that is quite charming ( | the naive style in which nineteenth-century American portraits were often painted).
Most people would rather be thought of as ingenuous, meaning straightforward and sincere (: an ingenuous confession of the truth), because it implies the simplicity of a child without the negative overtones.
Callow, however, comes down a little more heavily on the side of immaturity and almost always goes hand-in-hand with youth.
Whether young or old, someone who is unsophisticated lacks experience in worldly and cultural matters.
Thesaurus
gullible
adjective
he was a swindler who preyed on gullible elderly widows credulous, naive, overtrusting, overtrustful, easily deceived, easily taken in, exploitable, dupable, impressionable, unsuspecting, unsuspicious, unwary, ingenuous, innocent, inexperienced, unworldly, green; informal wet behind the ears, born yesterday. antonym suspicious.
THE RIGHT WORD
Some people will believe anything. Those who are truly gullible are the easiest to deceive, which is why they so often make fools of themselves. Those who are merely credulous might be a little too quick to believe something, but they usually aren’t stupid enough to act on it. Trusting suggests the same willingness to believe (: a trusting child), but it isn’t necessarily a bad way to be ( | a person so trusting he completely disarmed his enemies). No one likes to be called naïve because it implies a lack of street smarts ( | she’s so naïve she’d accept a ride from a stranger), but when applied to things other than people, it can describe a simplicity and absence of artificiality that is quite charming ( | the naïve style in which nineteenth-century American portraits were often painted). Most people would rather be thought of as ingenuous, meaning straightforward and sincere ( | an ingenuous confession of the truth), because it implies the simplicity of a child without the negative overtones. Callow, however, comes down a little more heavily on the side of immaturity and almost always goes hand-in-hand with youth. Whether young or old, someone who is unsophisticated suffers because of lack of experience.
We at Quintura have created a special search cloud for April Fool’s Day. Please check it out on http://www.quintura.com
Jorge Diaz-Santiago said on March 31, 2008 at 4:25 pm:
Gullible IS in the dictionary!!
Jorge - they gotcha…APRIL FOOL!!!!!!
got you, too, Wesley!
“Jorge Diaz-Santiago said on March 31, 2008 at 4:25 pm:
Gullible IS in the dictionary!!
Jorge - they gotcha…APRIL FOOL!!!!!!”
Doesn’t count! The piece was posted on 31 March!