From Newsgroup: sci.lang




I hope this link works.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dark+side+of+the+moon%3Aeng_us%2Cdark+side+of+the+moon%3Aeng_gb%2Cfar+side+of+the+moon%3Aeng_us%2Cfar+side+of+the+moon%3Aeng_gb&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=true

What's really odd is the low freq. during 1900-1940


occam <occam@nowhere.nix> posted:

With the launch of Artemis II mission, I've been listening to
discussions on radio. Scientists are careful to refer to the non-Earth
facing side of the moon as the 'far side', as they should. The 'dark
side' is something popularised (I suspect) by Pink Floyd.

I was therefore surprised to see this current ngram:

<https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=dark+side+of+the+moon%2Cfar+side+of+the+moon&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false>

[Note: The last cross-over of the two phrases was in the mid-70s . It's after the album was released (1973). The previous cross-over was 1955,
the start of space flight and Sputnik.]

WARNING: Generalisation ahead

Music still has a bigger sway on the irrational public than science does.

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