What oodles of Googlers are Googling.

Byline: Bob Welch / The Register-Guard

Being as the date is 7/11, I thought I'd offer a kind of convenience-store column, meaning one that'll be appreciated less by someone who knows the difference between a pinot noir and a pinot gris than by someone who knows when his Slurpee is too runny.

To wit, our subject is a new Web search feature - Google Trends - that allows us to tell which cities are looking up a particular word or term most actively in a given time span.

For example, with Google Trends (google.com/trends) you learn that in 2006, no U.S. city has looked up the word "marijuana" more than Portland.

In fact, Google Trends suggests that Portland, not Eugene or Berkeley, Calif., or Madison, Wis., might be the counterculture capital of the nation. The Rose City - or should it be referred to by another plant? - also ranks No. 1 in the country in "anarchy," "Ken Kesey" and "impeach Bush." And is in the top five in "granola," "Birkenstocks" and "hemp."

Eugene leads the nation in "Prefontaine" but nothing else that I could find. Part of it, of course, is because of its population disadvantage; big cities dominate because they have more Googlers.

Minneapolis is tops for "distance running," Seattle for "rain" and St. Louis for "Birkenstocks."

But, then, how do you explain Elmhurst, Ill., population 42,762, leading in "sex"?

Even the Google folks point out that the new system is "still in the early stages of development" and "is based upon just a portion of our searches."

And, remember, Google results don't necessarily mean what we think. Searches for "ducks" could come from UO fans, Anaheim hockey fans, hunters or folks looking for bathtub toys.

Indeed, Google Trends spawns as many questions as it answers. Why, after Portland, would Pittsburgh and Philadelphia be the cities most often Googling "Beaver football over the years"? Why would Renton, Wash., (population 50,052), have more people than Seattle (population 563,374) looking up "Husky football"?

It shouldn't surprise us that the city that looks up "Democrats" and "Republicans" most often is Washington, D.C. Or that "college football" is biggest in Birmingham, Ala., Omaha, Neb., Columbus, Ohio, and Oklahoma City.

But Nashville, Tenn., No. 5 in college football? Goodness, its biggest university, Vanderbilt, is to college football what the lowly honeydew melon is to a fruit salad - classy in appearance but listless come game time. (Last winning season: 1982.)

And what do you make of this: Albany, N.Y., Meriden, Conn., and Buffalo, N.Y., rank one-two-three for "Grateful Dead" and - get this - "Britney Spears."

Or, for that matter, what's with anarchy-crazed Portland also being No. 1 in "apple pie"? A Google glitch? An eclectic city? Or a place where protesters take a "riot lite" approach to violence, throwing pies, instead of bottles, at cops?

Google Trends also offers a comparison feature that's cool: You can plug in two or three phrases and see which triggers the most searches.

For example, you'll learn that "Borders" scores more searches than "Barnes & Noble" and "Tonya Harding" more than "Douglas fir."

So, what's the hottest word or phrase in the country? I can't tell you for sure. But I played out a 32-word/phrase tournament - based on hits from the United States in 2006 - and here's what I got:

"Yachats" defeats "Waldport." "God bless America" defeats "Yachats." "Impeach Bush" defeats "God bless America." "Animal House" defeats "Impeach Bush." "Allah" defeats "Animal House." "Bigfoot" defeats "Allah." "Napoleon Dynamite" defeats "bigfoot." "Lonely" defeats "Napoleon Dynamite." "Elvis" defeats "lonely" in extra innings. "Beatles" defeats "Elvis." "Paris Hilton" defeats "Beatles." "Iraq" defeats "Paris Hilton." "Jesus" defeats "Iraq." "American Idol" defeats "Jesus." "Recipes" defeats "American Idol." And "sex" defeats all.

Looking for an explanation? Talk to the folks in Elmhurst, Ill.