Google Answers is pretty cool. For a minimum of $2 you can post a question on just about any topic and get a quick response. I just came back from Paris and was wondering if the French word for heart ("couer") had any relation to the origins of the word "court" as used in the legal sense. Sure, I could go try to find the Oxford English Dictionary, but I don't have time. So I posted the question and got this answer (note the subsequent comment by another person who adds to the discussion with more useful information). And from the answers I learned about the Online Etymological Dictionary. It's not the OED, but it's a handy tool nevertheless.
And learning all of this cost me only $2.50. Not bad. By the way, I learned about Google Answers from my new friend A.J. Levy. He's a lawyer here in New Orleans and is gearing up to start a weblog, which will be a great thing for those of you who want to learn about "lateral thinking" as applied to the law.
Later: someone sent me this account of a person who worked for Google Answers. Interesting. But so is this.
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