The answers are of course 'don't be ridiculous, that's a stupid question', and 'yes, but only on Sundays'.

In a time when headlines about debt and despair dominate, it really would come as a huge surprise that someone didn't know the meaning of the word 'austerity'. However, a recent trend in Google searches suggests that the Americans have no clue - about the definition of 'austerity' that is, not in general.

Yes, apparently one of the most popular queries courtesy of our stateside cousins was 'what does austerity mean?'. This ignorance surely does not stem from a lack of education, but from the Yanks being used to having things so good. They have twenty-four hour malls, deep fried food by the bucketful, and walk amongst spray-tanned celebs - how can they possibly chuck in that lifestyle? After all, it would mean they'd have to, both figuratively and literally, considerably tighten their belts. For what must be the capitalism capital of the world, that's quite a big ask (which, incidentally, is the reason it's such a struggle for them to do up that belt).

Of course, what's slightly more worrying is that Google is now our first port of call for all knowledge. This is presumably because you can ask it anything without fear of judgement, hence why you frequently get the search bar suggesting outrageous questions such as whether you can get pregnant via your dog, and if rainbows taste of sugar. No wonder Ask Jeeves' Jeeves considered retirement.

I say this trend is worrying only because, thanks to several sci-fi films, I've learnt about the dangers of robots getting artificial intelligence. By feeding the Google machine our stupid questions, it's revealing where there is gaps in our knowledge. Once they've gained this invaluable information, they could choose which suggestions crop up when we are inputting our latest mystery. Instead of finding out what we wanted (say, the name of the pink Powerpuff Girl), we could be directed to links persuading us that a life under the rule of metallic overlords would be blissful, stress free, and only entail the odd bit of buffing. Before you know it, the whole population would be enslaved and forced to survive on a handful of DVD shrapnel a day, and nobody wants that. On the plus side though, it would certainly teach the Americans the meaning of austerity...