Doug Edwards' Xooglers Blog
[Originally posted Monday, July 10, 2006]
Googling has officially become a verb. The 11th edition of the
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary now includes “googling” (lower case
g). Actually the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) beat them to the punch a
month ago by listing Google (upper case g) in their authoritative lexicon of
the English language. It’s about time. People have been using Google as a
verb for years, despite protestations by the company (many of which I
authored myself) about the genericization of the trademarked name.
Having your brand name used as a generic term, is of course, a mixed blessing
for a company. On the one hand, it’s great to have your name become the
common shorthand for an entire category. It implies acceptance t... (more)