Expression "I'm feeling lucky"

[jupiter]

Hi teachers,

Everytime we use google, there're two choices to choose. One is "google search", another is "I'm feeling lucky".

My questions are what does "I'm feeling lucky" mean? and how do "google search" and "I'm feeling lucky" differ?

Thanks in advance

Jupiter

[Torsten]

Hi Jupiter, "I'm feeling lucky" in that context means "I believe I'll find what I'm looking for by trusting Google. This features automatically opens the first page that comes up in the search results. So, instead of browsing through all the pages that are usually displayed upon a Google search, you are taken to the first search result.

For example, if you put "english test" in the search box at Google.com and then hit "I'm feeling lucky", our website opens up.

Let me know if this makes sense.

Thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Pond969]

Jupiter... In common usage the phrase means that the speaker has a sense that events, either in general or in some specific situation, will be favorable to him or her.

Torsten... Thanks for your response. I had to laugh at myself. For ages I have been using Google and have never paid much attention to that button. I rather thought it was just there for people who didn't have a particular search in mind and that if you pushed the button it would take you to a random website which may or may not be interesting.

[Torsten]

Hi Pond, have you tried the "I'm feeling lucky" button with the search term "failure"? Check it out and let me know what you think of the result...
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[aereal]

if Google says so, we do have to think about that!
I wonder who "hacked" the engine and how? It is unlikely that someone got into Google and cracked something, but rather the search engine that sorts out the results has bug/feature in it - it is open for all and can't work any other way.
Any ideas?

[Torsten]

I don' think it's just a "Google problem". Trying searching for "failure" on Yahoo -- the top result is George W. Bush's bio page, too. Maybe, it's just an example of excellent SEO? By the way, MSN says that Bush is only number three when it comes to defining "failure"...
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

.
This search engine "phenomenon" has a name: Google bomb

The political Google bomb for George Bush began with the words "miserable failure".

There is the write-up about it on the Wikipedia site.

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[jupiter]

Hi all, esp Torsten

Thanks so much for that.
It did help and really interesting.

Thanks

Jupiter