Insurance is …

You could doubtless complete that sentence in a hundred different ways, depending on the client or the mood. I thought it would be fun to find out how Google—the world’s preeminent search engine—would finish the thought. There’s a neat Web site called Googlism.com. Unaffiliated with Google, the site mines the popular search engine’s results for a given word or phrase to see what the highest-ranked pages say about the subject.

A Googlism, then, is just a random result that displays what the collective mind that is Google “thinks” about a certain topic. Mostly, they are humorous and somewhat incongruous, but they contain dangerous kernels of truth as well. Naturally, I typed in “insurance” to see what would pop up. According to Googlism.com, insurance is:

.. no longer available
… gained and lost
… a must in Mexico
… our business
… a must if you’re retiring early
… a bad call
… a rock hill
… a slippery assumption
… nonrenewed
… required?
… “peace of mind”
… enough?
… a complex subject as diverse as business
… unlikely to become optional
… getting more difficult
… a family matter
… $67
… too high???
… part of a good risk management plan
… too important to leave to chance
… now wireless
… largely available; rates are dropping
… a little like cod
… sold
… mandatory
… unusual
… not available in Utah.

I must now solemnly confess that I’ve aborted many an Editor’s Note that began, “Insurance is … a little like cod,” fearing that none of my readers would find value in the simile. It’s nice to finally know that I am not alone!

Thanks for reading.