Some information in this post was originally found in a report by the Daily Dot. 3 minute read.
The internet is an incredible tool at our disposal in everyday life, and most of us use it for basically everything. From sharing funny memes, to creating spreadsheets for school or work, to watching Birdbox or The Avengers: Infinity War, we are always one search and one click away from nearly anything we want.
But in a fast-paced world of convenience, we are bound to make typos while Googling our next question or search. Who hasn’t accidentally looked up a “tuna fey” or “ryan goosling”? Funny thing is, the commonality of typos extends into all realms including, of course, the realm of pornography.
Looking for porb?
Porn is everywhere in mainstream culture. From shoutouts in movies and TV shows to social media, it isn’t exactly foreign in our society.
Though it still remains somewhat taboo to talk about, it has become intensely normalized over time, and it’s consumption is higher than ever before. Consider how Pornhub received an average of 81 million visits per day in 2017. [1]
With only one simple search, an internet user can quickly be swept away into the world of hardcore pornography. And as mentioned before, oftentimes these simple searches get misspelled along the way, resulting in these common search terms:
- Pirn
- Porb
- Oorn
- Potn
- Ponr
Because there’s a word or acronym for basically everything, none of these are meaningless. Of course, there are no doubt some real and intentional searches for these terms, but you’ll see why we don’t think all of them are purposeful.
Let’s take a peek at the definitions and search volumes of these porn typos.
What’s a “pirn”?
A pirn is a rod which thread is wound around for use in weaving. Though this probably would’ve been a popular Amazon search term a few hundred years ago, at 165,000 searches per month in today’s day in age, people probably aren’t looking to weave.
Unfortunately, porn is inextricably woven into the fibers of the atrocity of sex trafficking.
Looking for porn, or “PorB”?
PorB is a protein or gene associated with gonorrhea, which is definitely not what people are looking for when they go searching for “porb,” even at 74,000 monthly searches.
Ironically enough, stumbling onto a website about gonorrhea might not be the worst thing if someone is looking for porn, as it may help remind them that many porn performers don’t leave the industry without contracting some form of a sexually transmitted disease [2] and that porn is linked to engaging in riskier and more dangerous sex. [3]
Pornhub, or “Oorn” hub?
Oorn is a mythical, molluscan (think an octopus, snail, or clam-like) creature with tentacles that sprays her digestive acids and has a reptilian husband trapped on the moon. Every month, “oorn” is searched for 22,200 times, though “free oorn” actually has a higher search volume, reaching 27,100 searches.
This monster created by fiction horror writer H.P. lovecraft, as scary as it is, doesn’t quite compare to the monsters created by the porn industry, such as unhappy relationships, warped sexual tastes, early erectile dysfunction, and addiction.
Looking to watch “potn”?
POTN is the name for the PotNetwork Holding Group (a research company in the cannabis industry) on the New York Stock Exchange.
At 74,000 searches per month, though the company would probably like to think all these searches mean people putting stock in POTN, instead, most of these people are putting stock in an industry that profits off of deception.
Society isn’t yet at a PONR
Lastly, PONR is an acronym for “point of no return,” which has about 27,100 monthly searches.
Despite the current prevalence and normalization of porn, we have not reached a point of no return for educating people about pornography and protecting our brains, hearts, and future world from its many harms.
Though not as wholesome as a misspelling of Tina Fey or Ryan Gosling, these incorrect spellings of porn remind us just how many individuals seek out XXX on the regular.
Join us in fighting to educate the world on the scientifically illustrated harmful effects of porn. We’re in this to see more people search out “porn’s harms” than “porn,” “POTN,” or even “portb.” You with us?
Support this resource
Thanks for taking the time to read through this article! As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we're able to create resources like this through the support of people like you. Will you help to keep our educational resources free as we produce resources that raise awareness on the harms of porn and sexual exploitation?
DONATE