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Google’s new n-gram tool lets users track how often English words and phrases have appeared in published works – as archived in the Google Books collection – dating back to Renaissance days. The database offers a fascinating glimpse into the obsessions, fears and novelties of the passing eras. Collected here are a series of graphs charting the popularity of selected terms. Readers may try their own search terms by accessing Google n-gram at ngrams.googlelabs.com.

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