Reduce Reuse Recycle – the order of the 3Rs according to Google

In my last post a friend commented that isn’t that the order we all know.

So I decided to put it to the test in Google.

In Google if you quotation marks ” ” around a search term it returns the results as if the separate words were one word. So by putting in every possible combination of ‘reduce’, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’ I should get a good idea of how the English speaking world orders them. Below is the result:

Interestingly, the absolute opposite order of ‘Recycle Reuse Reduce’ came in 1st but its “pair” starting with ‘recycle’ (Recycle, Reduce, Reuse) came in last. The proper order of Reduce Reuse Recycle is ranked 4th of six. The order and number of hits are certainly a mixed bag with some reaching only low 5 digits. Well worth looking at in more detail, I think.

Even more amusing is Google Fight (put in each pair to see “the fight”) where the proper order is maintained. The problem is though the words are not linked to each other but rather it is about frequency without context. Not very scientific but fun to say the least.