Lonely...

[Katie]

DUBLIN, Ireland (Reuters) -- Ireland may be enjoying stellar economic growth and seen as one of the best places in the world to live, but its inhabitants are apparently also the globe's loneliest.

Google Trends, which works out how many searches have been done via the Internet search engine on particular terms, showed the word "lonely" was entered most frequently by Internet users in Ireland.

The Irish, enjoying new-found wealth and a flood of immigration following more than a century of economic decline, are followed in the misery stakes by residents of Singapore and New Zealand -- although Singaporeans are the most frequent searchers of "happiness."

Google Trends calculates the ratio of searches for a given term coming from each city, region or language divided by total Google searches coming from the same area.

Ireland's capital, Dublin, topped the city list for "lonely" searches, followed by Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.

In 2004, the Economist magazine named Ireland the best place to live in the world in a "quality of life" assessment.


*******************************************


Awwwwwwww

[Space Lieutenant Josh]

I guess this answers the Eleanor Rigby question...

"All the lonely people... where do they all come from?"

The answer is Ireland!

---Josh

[KROW]

Luck of the Irish indeed.

Like I said in the Ted Kennedy topic, "It's the booze, I tell you."

But really, I don't get it. How could a region so full of prosperity and rolling hills be so down like that?

[Sewer Bull]

That's just silly. They can type millions of phrases with that word. Including "Lonely Planet".

[damnhooligan]

Yeah, I agree with Sewer Bull. That's bullsh*t. I weep for the future state of journalism if this is how they're going to go about fact finding.

According to the same site by the same logic, Santiago, Chile is the happiest place on Earth, Bratislava, Slovakia the saddest, Birmingham, United Kingdom the angriest, Bangalore, India the most depressed, Perth, Australia the horniest, and Portland, Oregon should be suicide capital of the world.

Also, I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact that a song called "Lonely" was #1 on the UK and Australian charts for nearly two months last year.

[Sewer Bull]

Congratz damnhooligan. You've just discovered the everflowing source of potential press articles. And if you type solitude, Salt Lake City wins, not Dublin. so it spoils the whole ideology behind the aforementioned press note.

BTW - Kalamazoo is the Strykerest city on Earth!

[KROW]

Originally Posted by Sewer Bull

And if you type solitude, Salt Lake City wins, not Dublin.

See, I don't understand that, either. It was the site of the Olympics and yet...

Ah, screw it.

[Sewer Bull]

Could be something with plural marriages...

..or with a ski resort in Utah named "Solitude".

[KROW]

Originally Posted by Sewer Bull

Could be something with plural marriages...

Okay, that was funny.

A ski resort named, "Solitude"? I wonder why... Is there an attraction one could ski on called, "The Lonely Mountain"?

[Ra]

Originally Posted by damnhooligan

Also, I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact that a song called "Lonely" was #1 on the UK and Australian charts for nearly two months last year.

...do you know how secure that makes me feel?

As for the Irish...well...now we know why they drink so much...

Anyone up for an Irish Drinking song?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Sewer Bull

Could be something with plural marriages...

Well the multiple marriages thing is actually illegal in Utah...but there IS a branch of the Mormon faith that still practice it way far away from everyone else.

Anybody not living in those towns that's caught..the man goes to jail.

There's a song called "Lonelyness Knows Me By Name"...I guess that name would be Ireland...