The Zombie Map
by Perry Michael Simon on September 28, 2011
I know this has been making the rounds of the Net, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t post the map showing where people are Googling the word “Zombies”:
It’s the creation of the University of Oxford’s Oxford Internet Institute, which makes all sorts of interesting maps and graphs. This one shows that the U.S. and Europe are particulary zombie-centric. Actually, what it really shows is that searching for zombies is prevalent where there are a lot of people speaking English, which makes sense. It’s not that the rest of the world doesn’t care, it’s that they don’t speak English. Or that they’re already zombified. I don’t know. Maybe our resident zombie expert Jonah Ray can explain.
HT: The Guardian, Geekologie
So I’m sitting here reading this, and my boss’s son comes out of his dad’s office and goes “Hey have you ever heard of The Zombies?” Meaning the band, of course, but still, crazy timing. I should get back to work now….
Wonder what happens when you search for ‘zombies’ in different dialects.
The U.S. & Europe, certainly – but don’t overlook Japan! The whole island looks orange.
I wonder if they searched the word zombie in other languages or just English. I just found a list of how the spelling can change in different languages…like the simple Zombi of Italy, Hungary, French, and Turkish. That would account for the large blank spot on the map where Russia is. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080725111942AAg4aZJ
It’s not like the rest of the world has internet connection problems, or no electricity, or are trying to feed themselves, or work in factories 18hrs a day building computers on their 12th birthday, or hoping this is not the day their local warlord decides to with the genocide option, or anything else that might make Googling zombies difficult.
Oh, wait, I guess surviving in the real world trumps idle fantasies of what they might do if zombies existed.
Zombie Survival Fantasy = First World Problem
Righteous Indignation = Also a FWP
The next person that asks me why I live in the middle of nowhere will be shown this map. I live in a “Fewer Zombies” zone and where almost everyone owns at least three guns.
ZOMG! California where I live is very red!!!! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu………………..!!!!!
I love that there are huge areas of North America that are not interested in Zombies.
Your expert Jonah Ray is kind of a dick, not really, but kind of.
Thinks everything has to go by his strict definition or else it’s bullshit.
About Jonah being a zombie dick. I get that being a zombie iconoclast is a bit of a schtick… kind of, not really, kind of….
Yet, he angrily dismisses the geek vs. nerd debate (“just words”).
Dude. I teach a class about the history and significance of zombies in pop culture at the local college. I would really like to inteerview you. Also, big fan of the podcast etc, etc….
OK, yes, Nova Scotia IS completely orange ~ but at least it’s light orange…
So there’s that.