Do you “Google”?

by admin (Check me out)

You’ve probably been asked many times or you’ve probably asked the question yourself to friends. Admittedly, “googling” is among our most favorite past time when in the internet! We may have been using the phrases “to google,” “googled her,” “googling someone” for years but in case you have not heard, Google is officially a verb in the English-language dictionaries only since 2006; prior to that, it is only a noun and we were using the verb as slang.

So what, right? Well since its inclusion in the English dictionaries as a verb, Google has been concerned that the common usage in phrases like “to google someone” or our use of the above line, “googling” is among our most favorite past time… poses a threat to the branding of Google as a company. They are pleading and showing us in their blog how to use Google in the right context and are really telling the media not to use Google to refer to a general search, rather use Google in its context- that is to search using the Google search engine as described in the dictionary.

They have good reason to be worried. We’ve seen it happen to so many brand names when its wide generic usage eventually lead to losing the brand name and given for public use forgetting the company who owns it. Bayer had to give away aspirin as a brand name in the United States (although in some countries, Bayer still keeps Aspirin as a brand). The term elevator, thermos, escalator, walkman, q-tips, chapstick, cellophane, dry ice, brassiere, frisbee, xerox, fedex, kleenex, band-aid, lycra, jell-o, scotch tape, kool-aid are just some of the names we use commonly and interchangeably with any other related product.

Examples:

• Can you xerox this book by the end of the day? (should be, can you photocopy this book…?)
• Wipe your nose with a Kleenex. (Kimberly-clark Corp. aren’t really happy every time we use kleenex to refer to other competing brands so it should have been: Wipe your nose with a tissue.)
• Please buy the cheapest scotch tape you could find. (Huh? Scoth tape is a brand owned by 3M but we never say, Please buy the cheapest adhesive tape you could find.)
• You can take the elevator or the escalator. (Very few would say: You can take the lift or the electric powered stairs)
• I always carry a band-aid with me. (even if what I actually carry is a store brand adhesive strip)
• I bring a thermos to work. (even if my thermal flask is from Farberware)
• I carry my iPod everyday! (even if I have a Zune mp3 player; we’ve added this one because Apple Computer is also defending its iPod usage to strictly refer to the iPod and not any other mp3 players.)

How do you “Google”?

Do you Google on Yahoo or MSN? Of course not! When we say: “I google,” we mean it as searching and using THE Google search engine, nothing more. We’ve heard very minor instances when someone actually said: “can you Google this person in Yahoo! please?”

That is exactly what Google is trying to safeguard. However, we really do not see Google going down the path of say Kleenex or escalator. Far from it. “To google” is very obvious that what we’re referring to is the Google search site. Google is the company name. It is hard to dissociate google the verb to the Google the company. In fact search is widely accepted to be synonymous with the Google search.

Google can not censor and sue just about any Tom, Dick and Harry who uses the phrase: “Google him on Yahoo! ”

Google can not stop people from using the word as a verb more so now that the word is listed in the English dictionaries. The word is spreading and it’s usage getting wider and it is there for the next generations to come.

While Google must still watch out for its trademark- it should loosen up a little bit and enjoy the huge accomplishment of not only becoming a household name but being officially included for use in the English language; for what better measure is there for success than worldwide recognition and acceptance in print and in an official language? © 2007