A Lot of People Are Asking Google Why Brooklyn Is So “Hip,” “Dangerous,” and “Ghetto”
“Show me the Google search history and I’ll show you the man,” as the saying sort of goes. Or at least, “show me the Google search history and I’ll show you the biggest New York cliches.” The Daily News has done just that, creating an interactive map showing the most common autcomplete terms Google brings up for “Why is [name of borough] so…”. Any guesses what people are asking (or what Google thinks they’re asking) about Brooklyn?
Pretty much exactly what you’d think: “hip,” “dangerous,” “ghetto” (hmm), “dirty,” “bad” (in what way?), and, inevitably, “expensive.” “Cool,” “great,” and “famous” made the top ten, too. Seems like a net positive, though Borough President Eric Adams told the paper, “My goal is to see searches on ‘Why is Brooklyn so safe?’, ‘Why is Brooklyn so united?’ and ‘Why is Brooklyn so affordable?’” Um, any day now.
For Queens, people really seem to wonder why it’s “called Queens” and “so diverse,” just as they wondered why Manhattan is so “popular,” “famous,” and “expensive.” The Bronx didn’t fare so well (though it seems people are asking why it’s so “poor” and why it’s so expensive), but Staten Island fared maybe the worst, with autocorrects including “cheap,” “bad,” “trashy,” “racist,” “boring,” and “conservative.” Yeesh. Well, Google said it, not us.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.