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Stop Googling things, says Google

Posted by salparadise on · 11 comments
vnunet.com; By Will Head 		Mail this story
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Google has issued letters to media organisations asking them to refrain from using its name as a verb. In order to "protect its trademark", and prevent it becoming a generic term, the search firm has sent letters to publishers advising them on its proper use.

The article goes on to say that Google have (helpfully) included "correct usage" of the word/name/term google.



Google's letter includes helpful examples of appropriate and inappropriate use of the company's trademark.
For example: 'I used Google to check out that guy I met at the party' is fine, but 'I googled that hottie' is not.
Similarly, it's OK to say: 'He ego-surfs on Google to see if he's listed in the results' but not 'He googles himself.'
The key distinction is whether Google is used to describe searching in a general, non-specific sense.

I don't know about you, but if I were Google I'd be glad I was where I was and that the "sun is shining on me as much as it is" and I would not be trying to tell people what they can and can't say. On this subject the horse has long since fled the stable, "googling" or "to google" has already entered the common language.sal

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Comments (11)

jimf ·
a day late and a dollar short?
Scott_Ruecker ·
Trying to stop the way a word is used is a futile effort. The only thing that stops a word from being used is if it is forgotten by the people who use it.

Even then a derivative of it usually lives on in the 'popular' vernacular anyway. We all say words that have not been used for their original meanings everyday. The English language is riddled with them. To begin to cite examples would take forever.
jdixon ·
> a day late and a dollar short?

At least. They can yell at publications all they want, but the can't affect what the average person says, and google as a verb is already in widespread use.
Fritz ·
The point isn't really to stop people from uusing the word google, but to show an attempt to. Legally, google has too attempt to protect their trademark or they risk using it. If they allow it to become a regular word without at least pretending to stop it, then they very well could lose their trademark.

-> Fritz
boborooster ·
le boborooster entree:

As per Scott_Ruecker, Can one think of challenging such words as they arrive in our dictionaries ? And then to even try patenting/licensing such words in the process of their appear as such ????????? Ah, but this cannot be... arrogance on the part of Google and plainly ABSURD !!!

c'est ca le boborooster
Scott_Ruecker ·
I don't know about all of you but if I lost my trademark to the Dictionary, I think that I would somehow comes to terms with it.

For me, being in the Dictionary is as Immortal as you can get. To become a word used in the most prolific language on the planet..yeah. I think I would be alright with that. Call me crazy, but that is one of the coolest things that could happen for a thing, be it an object, place or person.

Think of it, Did you use Scott to find it?" or "Dude, your gettin' a Scott!".

Immortality my friends, Immortality.

Yeah, I'm crazy alright
dcparris ·
Scott: > Yeah, I'm crazy alright

This is a *news* site. You're supposed to tell us stuff we don't already know. :-D
dthacker ·
Ok, I'll not only stop using "Google" as a verb. I'll xerox some copies of an aspirin label and recommend they take it for their headache....... Dave
dinotrac ·
I don't understand. I googled my baby pretty good last night, and she liked it!
SFN ·
Perhaps rather than stop saying "googling" we should stop googling. That would, over time, create a situation where nobody has any reason to use google as a verb.
salparadise Story submitter ·
Quoting:Perhaps rather than stop saying "googling" we should stop googling. That would, over time, create a situation where nobody has any reason to use google as a verb.


Sounds good to me.

Is this a foretaste of things to come, when children log on to google-school, we all log on to google-net and we all have our money looked after in the google-bank and no one's allowed to do or say anything that's not in the book of google-etiquette?

I don't want to be a Gcitizen!

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