Portrait of English

August 14, 2005 9:45 PM

A picture of English nounsis a map of 33,000 English nouns. Each tiny rectangle corresponds to a noun. The color of the rectangle has been assigned a color, based on an internet image search for that noun. The words are clustered so that similar words are near each other. Gallery. (Java required)
posted by jikel_morten (30 comments total)

For some odd reason I expected every tiny rectangle to correspond to a nun.
posted by fondle at 9:51 PM on August 14, 2005

Yeah, I first read it as 33,000 English nuns.
Now, can someone explain to me why the FPP has any significance?
posted by Citizen Premier at 9:53 PM on August 14, 2005

After only giving it a superficial glance, I fail to understand the meaning of the size and color of the squares. It seems quite cool, but a bit over my head at the moment.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:00 PM on August 14, 2005

"Each word is given the average color of web images found when searching for that term." Well it's original at least.
posted by fondle at 10:02 PM on August 14, 2005

Colour is derived from sampling of the image search, size reflects the intensity of the image colour.

FAQ here.

I thought it was an interesting idea. Apologies if it's just me, folks.
posted by jikel_morten at 10:03 PM on August 14, 2005

Neato. More interesting to me than the mapping is just having that many words accessable at once. Scroll around and gems like "turtler" and "whoredom" pop out.
posted by mai at 10:06 PM on August 14, 2005

I think it's rather cool. This is very similar.
posted by dwordle at 10:14 PM on August 14, 2005

I downloaded some doohicky that creates co-lodges from Google images if you enter a few words. Look up AndreaMosaic if you're interested. Personal I think Google-related arty stuff is a bit tired, and I'm not very surprised that Googling plant words brought up the color green and Googling adult terms brought up pink. But I don't blame you for thinking it's neat.
posted by Citizen Premier at 10:20 PM on August 14, 2005

I think it's cool and I'm going to show it to some of my students just for a bit of fun. I'm confused as to why someone would ask whether the FPP has any significance (i.e. Citizen Premier). Obviously people either have no imagination or they're so narcissistic the only thing significant to them is their own petty interpretation of the world.
posted by Jase_B at 10:38 PM on August 14, 2005

I thought it was cool as hell. What's even more interesting is how many of the nouns I recognized. 33k words is a lot.
posted by karlshea at 10:40 PM on August 14, 2005

Maha, some of the colors there are completely off. Silly internets.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 10:53 PM on August 14, 2005

Wow. This just blew my mind.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 11:07 PM on August 14, 2005

But I don't blame you for thinking it's neat.

heh.
posted by Quartermass at 11:09 PM on August 14, 2005

...I'm not very surprised that Googling plant words brought up the color green and Googling adult terms brought up pink...
posted by Citizen Premier at 1:20 AM EST on August 15 [!]

Um...did you think other people didn't figure that?
posted by jikel_morten at 11:33 PM on August 14, 2005

My first reaction: too cool. Too cool.
posted by state fxn at 12:15 AM on August 15, 2005

Cool, and slightly obvious that it has a pinkish hue.
posted by seanyboy at 12:40 AM on August 15, 2005

[this is good]
posted by mek at 1:15 AM on August 15, 2005

This leads me to believe the majority of the pictures on the internet are of humans.
posted by TwelveTwo at 3:11 AM on August 15, 2005

Citizen Premier: Damn, I know that your profile says you like to be contrary, but you really are sounding, for all the world, like a snotty high schooler.

Here's a neat non-newsfilter thingum, and what do we get but someone whining about the relevance. More stories about Bush! Drudge! Angelina!

/been awake since 3 snarkiness
posted by Hal Mumkin at 3:13 AM on August 15, 2005

I like it. Words. Pictures. Cool.
posted by mmahaffie at 3:28 AM on August 15, 2005

This is an amusing little art/language thingy. Thanks, jikel_morten

Looking at the gallery, I was impressed by the picture(?) of the inflammations (of all things!) I thought it rather like onomatopeia, where the color looks just like what it represents here.
posted by jaronson at 3:38 AM on August 15, 2005

...off to Google Image Search to see what "whoredom" looks like...
posted by alumshubby at 3:45 AM on August 15, 2005

So maths is bigger than math. Yay Britspeak!
This is cool but I'm not sure what for..
posted by peacay at 3:47 AM on August 15, 2005

jaronson writes "I thought it rather like onomatopeia, where the color looks just like what it represents here."
That would be synaesthetic...or even synesthetic....being and all we're talkin' about words.
posted by peacay at 3:50 AM on August 15, 2005

or not...synaesthetic might be more narrowly constructed than I've suggested.
posted by peacay at 3:59 AM on August 15, 2005

I thought a picture was worth a thousand words, not 33,000....
posted by mmahaffie at 5:14 AM on August 15, 2005

Fascinating link. Interesting to see how a map of how the language works in practice

I see there are three kinds of Mexican: "Taco", "Wetback" and "Greaser." (Search for Greaser, right-click and zoom.)
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:49 AM on August 15, 2005

I like it, and my reaction was the opposite of karlshea's: I was surprised by how many I didn't recognize. Guib, puccoon, mamey... Fun! (Unless you're Citizen Premier, of course.)
posted by languagehat at 6:01 AM on August 15, 2005

First word I found was fellatio. Jeez, this internet thing...!
posted by kozad at 12:25 PM on August 15, 2005

"The only thing significant to me is my own petty interpertation of the world" is going in my profile. Excellent material.
posted by Citizen Premier at 3:24 PM on August 15, 2005