Ngrams

Today I discovered the joy of the Ngram. When you search for a word on Google, a wealth of information is provided, including, in the drop down box, an "Ngram" graphing the percentage use of that word in all books scanned by google.

For example, if you search for: "define curriculum"...you get:

1. curriculum

   kʌˈrɪkjʊləm/

   noun

   1. 1.

      the subjects comprising a course of study in a school or college.

      "course components of the school curriculum"

      synonyms:

      syllabus, course of study/studies, programme of study/studies,educational programme, subjects, modules; More

   

   
   

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...and the option to open a pull-down box below. When you do this, the fun begins. The Ngram can be adjusted for different dates or words and instantly gives a picture of how the uses of different terms have become more or less popular in the books Google scans over time. 

How reliable this information is depends on how broad a spectrum of books Google has scanned and that's something I'm yet to discover. I need to google it.

Here's an Ngram as a demonstration. You can have hours of fun exploring neologisms or comparing the rise and fall of society's interests - at least to the extent that our cultural foci are represented in books and in the books that Google has scanned.