Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[iloveyou]

Hello,
When I say 'google it', should I use the search enjine google only?
When I browed yahoo for some information,
can I say... I gooled it as long as it is internet?

Thanks
Yun

[dragn]

Well, gosh, in most cases I would say that people actually do use Google when they say they google something, simply because it's the most popular search engine on the planet. I don't think it occurs to a lot of people to use any other search engine. Do you absolutely have to use Google in order to say you googled something? I would positively, absolutely say...probably. Uhm, does it matter? Well, all right then. Here goes:

* * * * *

I, Greg the DragnMeister, member in good standing of the Fraternal Order of English Teachers, with the authority vested in me as Chancellor of the Knights of the Forum Know-It-Alls;

Whereas poster iloveyou has demonstrated the highest and most commendable levels of scholarship and impeccable moral character;

Do hereby grant poster iloveyou permission to use an Internet search engine other than Google and still be able to accurately proclaim that she has googled something. Any person or persons attacking her claim or otherwise questioning her integrity in this matter shall be publicly excoriated and rebuffed with the scorn and contempt they so richly deserve.

Such is My word, and My word is law.

In witness whereof I have caused the Great Seal of the Knights of the Forum Know-It-Alls to be affixed to this Royal Proclamation on the Eleventh of September in the Two-Thousand-and-Ninth Year of Our Lord.



* * * * * *

Greg

P.S. You do understand that I'm just having fun, right?

[redset]

In Britain it's also common for people to say hoovering instead of vacuuming - Hoover being a brand of vacuum cleaner. Google's so ubiquitous now that it's become a common word for 'using a search engine'. (I'm pretty sure Yahoo tried to encourage something like this for their own brand - I think their slogan used to be 'Do you Yahoo?' I guess that didn't work out!)

[CP]

It can work both ways. Kleenex brand tissues was (I suppose) the first of its kind, and people use "kleenex" as a generic term for such tissues, no matter what the brand. That's good for Kleenex, because most people use the brand name to mean the products sold under competing brands--free advertising all the time.

But Aspirin brand pain reliever, whose main ingredient is acetylsalicylic acid, lost its right to the brand when everyone began using "aspirin" generically. So now, anyone who produces the pain reliever can call it aspirin, and Aspirin brand no longer exists.
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