Is this a new search technique?

Strange search queries from PositionTech...

[TWhalen]

In a recent check of my referrers from my PositionTech (Inktomi subscription) account, I have numerous referrers for:

ALLWORDS(keyword phrase here)

I've never heard of this technique to perform a search from a search box at an engine before...is this common?
Is this a suggested method from the "Advanced Search Options" page from some major engine? If so,which engine tells you to search this way?

[sugarkane]

At a guess, it's from Hotbot which has filter options to search for 'all words', 'any word' and 'as phrase' - I've also seen PHRASEWORDS(keyphrase) in the ptech reports.