3 ms·
I know it was not the most important thing by a long shot, but having a named that is verbifiable was/is still handy. "Just google it". You can't do the same
by mgkimsal 6y ago
I know it was not the most important thing by a long shot, but having a named that is verbifiable was/is still handy. "Just google it". You can't do the same with other search tools. "Just bing it" is the closest, but "binging" is not only not an important skill, it's something they do on Netflix.
Yahooing? Ducking? Dogpiling? Altavisting? Binging?
The ability for the word 'google' to be transformed to multiple use cases still impresses me.
- orev 6y agoWhen people started using “google” as a verb, there was the same reaction. You probably feel more comfortable with “google” just because you’ve been using it longer (and depending on your age, you may not remember a time before google).
- mgkimsal 6y agoit's not just familiarity though - it was a word able to be verbified at the start. it didn't sound or feel wrong - certainly 'different' or 'new' up front, but few tools have names that are this malleable up front.
- harryvederci 6y ago"Searching"?
- mgkimsal 6y agosure, but google had the ability to be commoditized - people "google" even when they're just 'searching' (and the browser is set to default to DDG, for example). "googling=searching" for a sizable portion of the population, much like "kleenex=tissue" or "Xerox=copy" (back in the day). You could just say 'Xerox these reports' and people knew what you meant, even if your office had a Ricoh copier.