Cuil Search Tool

**MACKAY** · 28th July 08, 11:36 AM

Has anyone else tried the new search tool Cuil (pronounced cool)? I have been playing with it today and although it does have some bugs and quirks, is a really nice tool. I actually like it much better than Google. By the way, according to thier "About Us" link, Cuil is a Irish word for knowledge.

If you have not tried it yet, go to http://www.cuil.com and search on the word KILT.

**pdcorlis** · 28th July 08, 01:04 PM

Bummer servers overloaded - looks like they have a few growing pains.

**cavscout** · 28th July 08, 02:04 PM

I've done a few searches on it and while the concept is nice, it appears that it's using "stock" photos for each entry and I get tons of the same link on every page. I get the feeling that I'm not getting all the search results, that I'm missing some. for example, if I search on Leather Sporran Strap I get pages and pages of the same handful of companies with generic photos. On Google, I get a lot of different companies in the first couple of pages. It seems I'm getting more and better results with Google.

I wish them luck but for now I'll stay on Google.

**Howard Clark** · 28th July 08, 02:59 PM

I'm sticking with Google. On several searches that I do, Cuil did very poorly in comparison.

**Rex_Tremende** · 28th July 08, 03:35 PM

For comparison's sake, I plugged in the off-beat search term I used the other day, "science of aesthetics." Cuil returned 7 hits, none of which I found all that useful. Google returned 47,800, providing me with several interesting leads to follow.

A search engine aggregator, dogpile.com, once listed about a dozen among its sources. Today I see that it only draws from four: Google, Yahoo!, MS Live Search, and Ask. So many others have tried and have not yet been able to topple the giant.

Given all the basic and advanced ways one can use Google, I've still not come across a better mousetrap.

Regards,
Rex.

**beloitpiper** · 28th July 08, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by MACKAY

By the way, Cuil is a celtic word for knowledge.

In which language, exactly? Because in Irish "cuil" means "fly/insect" and "cúil" means "back/rear"...

**cavscout** · 28th July 08, 04:56 PM

The morning radio show here said the word cuil meant something like that but CNN's article says this

"Costello's Irish heritage inspired Cuil's odd name. It was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore."

**Beertigger** · 28th July 08, 08:55 PM

It's far too slow and the results are simply awful.

Nice try, but it's back to Google Advanced for me.

**MACKAY** · 29th July 08, 04:19 AM

Originally Posted by cavscout

The morning radio show here said the word cuil meant something like that but CNN's article says this

"Costello's Irish heritage inspired Cuil's odd name. It was derived from a character named Finn McCuill in Celtic folklore."

I saw that too, but on the Cuil Website it says "Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge." in the "About Us" link. In the FAQ it says the following:

What does the name Cuil mean?
"Tom Costello, our founder and CEO, comes from Ireland, a country with a rich mythology around the quest for wisdom. Cuil is the Gaelic word for both knowledge and hazel, and features prominently in ancient legend. One famous story tells of a salmon that ate nine hazelnuts that had fallen into the Fountain of Wisdom and thereby gained all the knowledge in the world. Whoever ate the salmon would acquire this knowledge.

A famous poet fished for many years on the River Boyne hoping to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. When he finally caught it, he gave it to his young apprentice Finn McCuil to prepare, warning him not to eat any. As Finn cooked the salmon he burnt his thumb and instinctively sucked it to ease the pain. And so it was Finn and not the poet who gained all the wisdom of the world. Finn went on to become one of the great heroes of Irish folklore. Any time he needed to know the answer to a question, he sucked his thumb.

As a child Tom poached salmon from the same spot on the Boyne where it is said the Salmon of Knowledge was caught."

**beloitpiper** · 29th July 08, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by MACKAY

I saw that too, but on the Cuil Website it says "Cuil is an old Irish word for knowledge." in the "About Us" link. In the FAQ it says the following:

What does the name Cuil mean?
"Tom Costello, our founder and CEO, comes from Ireland, a country with a rich mythology around the quest for wisdom. Cuil is the Gaelic word for both knowledge and hazel, and features prominently in ancient legend. One famous story tells of a salmon that ate nine hazelnuts that had fallen into the Fountain of Wisdom and thereby gained all the knowledge in the world. Whoever ate the salmon would acquire this knowledge.

A famous poet fished for many years on the River Boyne hoping to catch the Salmon of Knowledge. When he finally caught it, he gave it to his young apprentice Finn McCuil to prepare, warning him not to eat any. As Finn cooked the salmon he burnt his thumb and instinctively sucked it to ease the pain. And so it was Finn and not the poet who gained all the wisdom of the world. Finn went on to become one of the great heroes of Irish folklore. Any time he needed to know the answer to a question, he sucked his thumb.

As a child Tom poached salmon from the same spot on the Boyne where it is said the Salmon of Knowledge was caught."

He's close. "Coill" is the word for hazel. The word for knowledge is "Eolas". The Irish name from Finn McCool is not "Finn McCuil", but Fionn mac Cumhaill. The Salmon of Knowledge is called bradán feasa, which is literally the "Salmon of Wisdom".

Just goes to show you, just because you're from Ireland doesn't mean you know Irish just like because you're from Scotland doesn't mean you know about kilts.