Google’s autocomplete suggestions for searches starting with “Is”:
- Is Lady Gaga a man
- Is Lady Gaga a hermaphrodite
- Is the world going to end in 2012
- Is bronchitis contagious
- Is Santa real
- Is pneumonia contagious
- Is Khloe Kardashian pregnant
- Is Walmart open on Christmas 2009
- Is Wendy Williams a man
- Is Limewire illegal
My answers: No. No. No. Yes. No. Yes. Don’t know. I’d think so. Judging from the name, no. Judging from the name, yes.
Quomodocumque 
According to Wikipedia, Wendy Williams was born William Joan Williams, which only adds to the confusion I suppose.
In the months before the 2008 election the top two autocompletions for search strings beginning with “Is” were “Is Barack Obama Muslim” and “Is Barack Obama a Muslim,” so this is progress.
We might as well add the related quiz “are”:
Are vampires real?
Are you afraid of the dark?
Are ghosts real?
Are banks open on Columbus Day?
Are sinus infections contagious?
Are you being served?
Are shingles contagious?
Are aliens real?
Are banks open on veterans day?
Are you afraid of the dark episodes?
Off the top of my head and (ironically) without consulting the internet, my answers are:
No. No. No. We don’t have Columbus day here in Canada and we didn’t in Berkeley either (but I think the banks were closed on Indigenous People’s Day). I believe that most sinus infections are in fact secondary infections which are themselves not contagious, but the primary infection was probably something like a common cold which is contagious. Not currently. Don’t really know, I’ll say no. I think yes there are alien life forms and no, we will never contact them. In Canada we have Rememberance Day instead and banks are closed. I find this last question so enigmatic that I have to say yes, if for no better reason than to find an interpretation of “the dark episodes” so as to make it true.
Might as well vary the tense as well…
Was Lady Gaga born a man
Was Hitler Jewish
Was Jesus black
Was Lady Gaga a man
Was Jesus born on December 25
Was Taylor Swift on American Idol
Was Bill Clinton impeached
Was not was
Was Brittany Murphy anorexic
Was the Civil War inevitable
My answers (also off the top of my head): No. No. No. No. No. Not as a contestant, but I don’t know if she “guest starred” or anything. Yes. I don’t know what this means. Very possibly. Not until at earliest the late 1850s (assuming the American Civil War is meant).
Was (Not Was) hit #7 in 1989 with Walk the Dinosaur.
A young’un stepping in to parse for Jim: the last one would be better written ” ‘Are you afraid of the dark?’ episodes”; this was an old horror show for kids on Nickelodeon. It was apparently part Canadian, so it’s a fair question to appear on the final.
Check out http://autocompleteme.com/ for many more weird examples.