28 January, 2006

Random queries no.22

One of a series of genuine search engine enquiries which successfully brought visitors to the Ministry.  Can I help?

what do you call someone who uses a metal detector

A security guard?

If you mean the other kind, a brief web search for 'metal detector hobby' strongly suggests that the practice is indeed simply called 'metal detecting', rather than some variety of '-ology' or '-ography'. Consequently, I presume those involved in the hobby are termed 'metal detector enthusiasts' or 'metal detector operators'. 'Metal detectives' seems improbable!

Incidentally, as I've mentioned before in this category, I believe keyword-targetted searches generally work better than natural-language questions. In this case, the words 'a', 'call', 'do', 'someone', 'uses', 'what', 'who' and 'you' are all superfluous.