Google 'Do A Barrel Roll' Is One Of The Coolest Things Google Has Ever Done

With its interactive doodles and insanely large pumpkins, Google is known for being whimsical, but "do a barrel roll" might just take the cake.

Go ahead, do it. Google "do a barrel roll" and see what happens.

The phenomenon has taken Twitter by storm today, with feeds exploding with people talking about it. Celebrities, news organizations and even aviation enthusiast sites (wait, what?) are spreading the word.

The New York Times Bits Blog suggested in a tweet that "Google responds in something of a Siri-like fashion."

Indeed, iPhone 4S users have been enjoying asking Siri, the phone's new digital personal assistant, amusing questions and then posting her responses to Twitter, so perhaps Google wants to get in on the action.

This isn't the first time Google has allowed a search term to manipulate the layout of its results page. In April, iPhone users found that if they Googled "tilt" on their iPhones, using Safari or Google's app, the screen's display would tilt ever so slightly. And check out what happens to the company's logo if you Google "ascii art."

Well-played, Google. Well-played.

UPDATE: 4:45 p.m. EDT

As Kristopher Wright pointed out in a comment below, the "do a barrel roll" meme has been popular for sometime now. According to KnowYourMeme.com, it's a reference to the 1997 videogame Star Fox 64.