Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “that’s just semantics” before? That usually means that they think the other person is obsessing over word choices rather than the substance of the argument. But what if that retort made no sense? What if the words you choose completely change the argument? If an avid baseball fan in Colorado puts “rockies” in the search bar, should they see results for the 80 million year old, 3000 mile chain of mountain peaks ranging from Canada to Mexico? Or for a mediocre baseball team, formed in 1995? If intent didn’t matter, the Rocky Mountains would seem like the obvious choice over the struggling Blake Street Bombers. But the Rocky Mountains aren’t going anywhere and people rarely seek updates on them. Due to this, and combined with search history, demographics, and geographic location, the search algorithm concludes that what the user is looking for is information on the Colorado Rockies baseball team.

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