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Attention English Teachers: Google Is Officially A Verb
from the fun-for-the-trademark-lawyers dept
Every summer, it's always fun to see what new tech-related words make it into the Oxford English Dictionary as official "words." A few years ago, it was things like "blog," "cyberslacker," and "egosurf." This year, however, the Google lawyers probably won't be all that thrilled to discover that Google has now been included as a verb. Yes, that's right. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it's now perfectly legitimate to say you "Googled" something. From the standpoint of Google, however, this could take them a step closer to losing the trademark on their own name, as it starts to fall into more common usage. Can Google sue the Oxford English Dictionary?
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Reader Comments (rss)
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1zt
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tricky question
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google'd
"googldy googldy google. - quagmire"
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Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a verb.
As an individual person in my private conversation, if I wish, I can refer to every ‘adhesive bandage’ as a Band-Aid, but 3M can not;
I can refer to every ‘cotton swab’ as a Q-Tip if I want, but Georgia-Pacific can not;
I can refer to every carbonated beverage as a Coke, but Pepsi can not...
Do you need more examples?
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Shanking Stevens
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Google is power
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hmm
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Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a verb
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Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a verb
english english - american english
Plaster = Band-Aid
Cotton wool bud/ear bud = Q-Tip
beverage = drink
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...
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Re:
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GOOGLED
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Google
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verb with an uppercase?
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Re: Microsoft adding Google to Dictionary
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Re: Google is power
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Someone go grab me a ...
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Re: verb with an uppercase?
Regards,
jEDI wANNABE
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Verb Blocked
Actor1: I think I'm pretty important!
Actor2: That good, huh? Really? Then go *bleep* yourself!
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Google Says:
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Re: Re: verb with an uppercase?
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Re:
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to the guy wondering...
When was the last time you called an elevator a "lift," or "Ascending Room?"
But that's the name for the device itself! Elevator was a brand name. Now when was the last time you remember seeing an actual Elevator brand "lift?" The point is, that people associate the generic versions with the name, and the actual brand loses it's identity. the company Elevator isn't even in business anymore, and tons of other companies call themselves "Elevator" manufacturers. Qtip is a brand which is about halfway there. The real name is "Cotton swab," QTip is a brand name. But how many people have ever called another brand "Qtip", probably without even thinking about it.
Once "Google" becomes synonomous with "search," it will be pretty hard for google to stop it. It doesn't seem like much now, but the pattern has happened many times. give it 30 years, and Google the company will be gone, and we'll all be saying "Let's go google that on MSN" (or something else, I hope we won't still be using MSN in 30 years...)
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Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a ver
(source: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Genericized_trademark. Not the complete list, just ones that I felt would be well known.)
Allen wrench (or Allen key)- hexagonal screwdriver (A rarity among generic words, 'Allen wrench' is no longer trademarked, but is still capitalized because it is named after a company)
aspirin - ASA (acetylsalicylic acid; remains as a registered trademark in many places around the world in the name of Bayer, but not in the United States)
bikini - two-piece swimsuit for women
brassiere - women's undergarment used for breast support
cellophane - transparent paper
celluloid - film material
dry ice - frozen carbon dioxide
escalator - moving staircase
formica (plastic) - laminated plastic surface
frisbee - toy plastic flying disc
gramophone - record player
granola - oat and fruit bar
hoagie - sandwich
heroin - narcotic drug; originally registered by Bayer as a pain reliever
hula hoop - toy hoop; originally made of various materials, generic name trademarked by Wham-O when it was redesigned in plastic in the late 1950's
jungle gym - play structure (from 'Junglegym')
LP - long playing record
lanolin - purified, wax-like substance from sheep's wool
linoleum - floor covering
mimeograph - reproduction machine
photostat - reproduction machine
plasterboard - formed gypsum building material
spandex - polyurethane fiber; an anagram of "expands"; DuPont later introduced new trademark, Lycra
Webster's dictionary - the publishers with the strongest link to the original are Merriam-Webster, but they have a trademark only on "Merriam-Webster", and other dictionaries are legally published as "Webster's Dictionary"
yo-yo - toy
zeppelin - dirigible airship
zipper - zip fastener
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GGG
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One That Fought
On another note..."google" already has a place in the dictionary, the original meaning before there was a search engine, the number represented by a "1" followed by one hundred zeros. That's big. Heck, I'd bet that Google is not worth a google pennies.
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Re: ...
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Re: to the guy wondering...
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Re: Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a
Its - possessive of it
Idiot. I don't have time.
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Re:
how boring to have red lines under "Google" while every Microsoft product are in Office's dictionnaires
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Had to see it in black and white...
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10 to the 100th
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
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Re: hmm
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Will anybody in Generation-X use this verb?
I always ask for a Q-Tip or Kleanex (sp?) or Band-Aid because that's how my parents referred to them as; however, my grand-parents always use the definition of those brand names such as cotton swab, tissue or bandage. But I never ask something to be Xeroxed (even if it is using a Xerox copies) or say "Let's go Rollerblading" because those things were invented during my lifetime, and I know what they are.
So I can't see Google being used as a verb much by people who were born before the invention of a search engine (not many on this site by the looks of it), but it may find it's way in a later generation.
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Re: Re: Re: verb with an uppercase?
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Re: dictionary
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Re: Yep it is. Also, Band-Aid is a noun and a ver
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Bad Oxford
Saying you googled something is like saying you xerox something. At best it's slang and at worst it's just plain wrong. We already have two standard English words that mean what you want: searched and researched. Use them.
Putting "google" in the dictionary as a verb is just plain stupid. Image if they did that with Yahoo or Lycos. Yeah, Google is a great search engine, but it's not a verb.
Also, "it was a band-aid fix" isn't an adjective. It's a colloquialism.
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Re: Bad Oxford
googol not google.
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What would they sue for anyway? Removal? Why not attempt that for any number of other words as well?
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Re: One That Fought
Use of that verb would, of course, tend to increase their business, not damage it. It's so obviously stupid to try to prevent this that I could only imagine that maybe it was just a craven move by these lawyers to bilk Rollerblade for some more money, or, even more cynically, maybe Rollerblade knew that this was nonsense, but told the lawyers to do it anyway for a quick hit of additional publicity.
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Re: One That Fought
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Definition processing
Definition: v. to search for something using the search engine google
computing... to search for something using the search engineto search for something using the search engineto search for something using the search engineto search for something using the search engineto search for something using the search engineto search for something using the search engine
warning.. warning... cannot compute... cannot compute (sound of explosion and shrapnel from my head flying everywhere)
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Seriously though...
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Coke
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Googolplex
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Re: Will anybody in Generation-X use this verb?
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NOT Googol
I think there would probably be no copyright ever if they used Googol, instead of creating their own word.
It is important for Google to battle Webster and get the term out - so they can maintain their copyright. They have to maintain their copyright, or else it goes out into the public domain and we'd have every ebay seller and two-bit website saying they're sponsored or in sponsorship with Google.
I guess Google can mak their own case to demonstrate how they have maintained their copyright and that the term's use isn't as widespread as Webster believes.
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How is it anything but?
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Dictionary
"giving head"
"getting head"
Is that in the Oxford?
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Re: ...
The verb googeln 'to google' has actually been in at least one major German dictionary for two years or so (a search revealed the term in a 2004 edition of the dictionary).
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Re: Re: ...
In any case, google added to the dictionary is interesting. People have been using it as a verb for quite a while now.
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Google as a verb
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Trademark, not copyright
You trademark words. You copyright works.
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nrvftm xesl
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ftkvsmw lgsi
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ziqagc gkzcru
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I googled google using Google! Seriously...
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Re: Re: Google is power
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Re: Re: Bad Oxford
"Google" and "googol."
But you may want to pay more attention to punctuation.
"It's" is not the possessive of "it," but rather a
contraction of "It is."
Brian
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