It seems to me like it's just vaguely guessing the question, in a manner of a Google search: "When did the Simpson's first..." and it leaps ahead, ignoring the

It seems to me like it's just vaguely guessing the question, in a manner of a Google search: "When did the Simpson's first..." and it leaps ahead, ignoring the nonsense. "Who flew the first airplane...", again. I tested the theory with "How big is the Death Star's toilet", and sure enough it promotes a result on the diameter of the Death Star. So, part of this phenomenon is finding queries that are very close to "common" searches, with nonsense attached that's so completely zany that it doesn't push the statistical needle in any particular direction - and it latches on to the "common" search. edit: I succeeded again with "When did doctor who invent fish fingers", which proudly returns "2010" - which is probably merely the most likely answer to any question involving "when", "doctor who" and "fish fingers".