--- title: Google Search From Polite Grandmother Charms Internet description: A grandmother's unusually polite Google search has charmed thousands after her grandson posted a photo of the search to Twitter canonical: https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-16T20:42:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:26:34.000Z og:title: A Grandmother's Exceedingly Polite Google Search Charmed the Internet og:description: She wanted to ask very nicely og:url: https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Grandmother's Exceedingly Polite Google Search Charmed the Internet twitter:description: She wanted to ask very nicely twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # A Grandmother's Exceedingly Polite Google Search Charmed the Internet by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:26 AM UTCPublished: Jun 16, 2016 8:42 PM UTC by [Emma Ockerman](https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:26 AM UTCPublished: Jun 16, 2016 8:42 PM UTC It never hurts to mind one’s P’s and Q’s. A grandmother’s unusually polite Google search has charmed thousands of social media users — and even the search engine company itself — after her grandson posted a photo of the 86-year-old’s laptop to Twitter. The internet was delighter after seeing that May Ashworth had searched “Please translate these roman numerals mcmxcviii thank you.” Ben Eckersley, 25, of Wigan, England, was visiting Ashworth, his grandmother, to use her dryer when he found the search on her open laptop, the [BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36538356). (The answer to her search, by the way, is 1998.) He quickly tweeted an image of the search, which has garnered more than 24,500 retweets and close to 36,000 favorites since it was posted June 9. “She thought that by being polite and using her manners, the search would be quicker,” Eckersley told the BBC. Ashworth said [she was hoping to figure out when a book of nursery rhyme](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/16/482343107/a-bit-of-afternoon-cheer-google-charmed-by-grandmas-polite-searches?utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=npr&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fterm=nprnews)s was published. “I feel a bit stupid really ’cause I did it that way,” Ashworth told [CBC News ](http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/grandma-google-search-polite-1.3637407)from her home in Greater Manchester, England. “I thought, well somebody’s put it in, so you’re thanking them.” > [](https://twitter.com/Push10Ben/status/740980720726908929) Google’s UK Twitter account replied to Eckersley’s tweet with the answer to Ashworth’s question, adding that “in a world of a billion searches, yours made us smile.” Google’s main Twitter account also responded with “Dear Grandma, no thanks necessary.” > [](https://twitter.com/GoogleUK/status/743021042822750209) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/"},"headline":"A Grandmother's Exceedingly Polite Google Search Charmed the Internet","datePublished":"2016-06-16T20:42:24.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:26:34.000Z","description":"\"She thought that by being polite and using her manners, the search would be quicker.\"","url":"https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Google","viral","twitter"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4372262/grandmother-roman-numeral-google-search/","name":"A Grandmother's Exceedingly Polite Google Search Charmed the Internet"}}]}] ```