Google Instant was rolled out earlier this month, allowing users to see the search results for words as they are typing them. I won’t bore with the details, as if you haven’t seen it already, there are plenty of blog posts out there showing it off in great detail! There has also been a rush of talk about the dreaded “blacklist” that Google has applied to Instant, and how seemingly reasonable searches will not show up unless you complete the search word and click “Search” or hit Enter.

In light of the “naughty” filter (as it’s being referred to), 2600 (the hacker group) have begun compiling a list of words that have been blacklisted by Google Instant, fairly or not. At the end of said blacklist, is a list of words which are not blacklisted, even though they would do well to be, given the guidelines Google seems to be following at the moment. You can, for example, search unhindered for the phrase “how to commit suicide” without the big G sticking its beak in.

Hungry to know more, I quickly thought of a word, to see which list it would fit in… out of curiosity. Imagine my surprise, when searching for “clung” – as in: “the climber clung to the cliff-face for dear life after his safety line snapped leaving him dangling above a great big gorge” – I was given the following suggestion from Google, as well as a full Instant result:

Note the lightly shaded letter “e” urging me to complete the search.

I also found the third result for the full, dirty, uncensored search reasonably amusing!

But you can’t search for “teen”!