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Two weeks ago, Google chucked a shiny new Web toy down the chimneys of Internet-research nerds everywhere: the Google Books Ngram Viewer, a search tool/treasure hunt that shows you the frequency of specific words in literature going back to the 1500s. (For example, it turns out the word “slavery” spikes during the Civil War and Civil Rights movement. Imagine that!) Thanks to data provided by Harvard-led “culturomics” researchers, Ngram supposedly trawls 5.2 million books — roughly “four percent of all books ever published,” its creators say. While the Ngram itself has spurred plenty of its own controversy — chiefly concerning whether or not its potentially spotty results are actually worth a damn — we thought we’d put it to work settling a few hotly contested local debates. Because everything comes down to a popularity contest, right?

globeherald

BOSTON GLOBE VS. BOSTON HERALD | Winner: pre-1970: Herald; post-1970: Globe

harvardmit

HARVARD UNIVERSITY VS. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | Winner: Harvard

soxyankees

BOSTON RED SOX VS. NEW YORK YANKEES | Winner: Yankees

BcBu

BOSTON COLLEGE VS. BOSTON UNIVERSITY | Winner: BU

carrbulger

HOWIE CARR VS. WHITEY BULGER | Winner: pre-1996: Howie; post-1996: Whitey

Related: Bully for BU!, Fourth-estate follies, 2009 edition, Menino's junked mail, More more >
  Topics: Books , Boston Red Sox, Boston University, Boston Globe,  More more >
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ARTICLES BY SHAULA CLARK
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