20 Google Chrome Substitutions for Planners

Extensions that automatically change the appearance of words in the Google Chrome browser have provided serious laughs. Now for a planning edition.

2 minute read

April 1, 2016, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Google Chrome offers extensions that, when installed for browser software, automatically replace words found on the Internet with words that until now have only registered in internal monologues.

The most famous example of the Google Chrome substitution extension went viral in February, when John Oliver's show Last Week Tonight announced the creation of a Google Chrome extension that replaces the words Donald Trump with the words Donald Drumpf, in an homage to the presidential candidate's ancestry.

If you missed John Oliver's segment, he explains how the Google Chrome extension works roughly around the 18:50 minute mark of the video below.

Following the lead of John Oliver, as well as the fan-favorite cartoon KXCD, which has previously created lists of substitutions that make reading the news a little more entertaining (KXCD has its very own Google Chrome extension, by the way), we brainstormed a few planning-focused substitutions.

Planning substitutions for Google Chrome would allow a few applications. One would be to cut through the sometimes jargon-filled language of planning practice. Another would be to read what you're really thinking about the word choices and politics of people on the other side of the issue. Here are a few of ideas of the more subversive variety, but we imagine you have your own.

Public engagement>Loud caring
NIMBYs>Protectors of the Realm
Vibrant>Being bae
Car>Boss
Bus>Freedom mobile
City Council hearing>Photo op
Locally preferred alternative>Plan B
Urban planning>politics
Urban design>Fancy planning
Urban planners>Party planners
Architecture school>Hazing
Landscape architecture>Golf course design
Transportation engineers>NASCAR
Congestion relief>Recession
Parking>Car hotels
California Environmental Quality Act>Cash register
Developers>Greedy developers
Federal transportation policy>The auto industry
Agenda 21>United Nations conspiracy
Gentrification>Hipsters lining up for fancy toast

FULL STORY: 20 Google Chrome Substitutions for Planners

Friday, April 1, 2016 in Planetizen April 1st Edition

Humor United States April Fool's Day Google Chrome Plannerese Language of Planning View More

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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