4 ms·

Just a side note - it's peculiar how we use "googling" as a synonym of searching. The guy you've mentioned won't be using google and I hope he doesn't have goog

Just a side note - it's peculiar how we use "googling" as a synonym of searching. The guy you've mentioned won't be using google and I hope he doesn't have google on the device to fetch all necessary data

toast0 5y ago
Does google still make search appliances?
- pacificmint 5y ago
  I had thought that it was discontinued years ago, but apparently they only started phasing it out in 2016 and finally shut it down in 2019. [1] [1] https://www.cmswire.com/information-management/google-search-appliance-fades-away/ https://www.cmswire.com/information-management/google-search...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Broken_Hippo 5y ago
I don't think it is. While a lot of folks don't use google, a lot of folks do, and have for a while. It isn't like it is the first time a brand became something more: Band-aid and Kleenex are items as well as brands, for example. You might Xerox that contract, too, even though you probably aren't using a Xerox brand machine to do so. Maybe you call all soda a "coke" - and asked someone, "What flavor of coke do you want?" - with Mountain Dew being a perfectly acceptable answer. (This last example isn't as widespread).
- nicoburns 5y ago
  While not completely alien here in the UK, using brand names for generic concepts is a bit of an Americanism (perhaps because of a cultural tendency to glorify private business?) "Band-aids" are plasters (short for sticking plasters) here, and "Kleenex" are tissues (even if they're actually kleenex branded). Having said that, to "google" something or to "photoshop" something are both in common usage here. I suspect the difference has to do with the dominance of those products in their respective categories meaning that chances are you really will be using google or photoshop when you look something up. Although I can't imagine someone here using "google" in the context above to denote a specific, clearly non-google, search tool.
  - cnorthwood 5y ago
    I think it's cultural. We have some brand names where I believe Americans don't, for example. For example, we hoover where Americans vacuum.
    - Macha 5y ago
      Jeep is another example that got plenty of use outside America, only really falling out of use in the last while as casual use of that type of vehicle got replaced by SUVs.
      - ryanbrunner 5y ago
        A jeep (in the casual, not the brand sense) is a different thing than a SUV though? When I think of "jeep", I think of a Jeep Wrangler-type vehicle, which is a much different thing than a SUV.
        Macha 5y ago
        Right, but people who 20 years ago for reasons other than needing the ruggedness would have driven jeeps now mostly drive SUVs. I'm not saying that people call them SUVs now. I'm saying they buy SUVs instead if they just want a big vehicle to use on road.
  - TeMPOraL 5y ago
    A widespread example of this phenomenon in Poland is calling a particular form factor of shoes "adidas" (plural: "adidasy"), regardless of the brand or manufacturer. In fact, I can't think of another word to refer to this shoe category. Another one is "kserokopiarka" for "photocopier" (and thus "skserować" for "to photocopy"), which derives from Xerox. And I think using "jeep" (pronounced as in English) for a class of cars is also common. And, of course, we Google stuff on the Internet instead of looking it up. But other than these, I don't recall any popular examples of brands turning into generic nouns in Polish.
    - 5y ago

toast0 5y ago

Does google still make search appliances?

pacificmint 5y ago
I had thought that it was discontinued years ago, but apparently they only started phasing it out in 2016 and finally shut it down in 2019. [1] [1] https://www.cmswire.com/information-management/google-search-appliance-fades-away/ https://www.cmswire.com/information-management/google-search...

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Broken_Hippo 5y ago

I don't think it is. While a lot of folks don't use google, a lot of folks do, and have for a while. It isn't like it is the first time a brand became something more: Band-aid and Kleenex are items as well as brands, for example. You might Xerox that contract, too, even though you probably aren't using a Xerox brand machine to do so. Maybe you call all soda a "coke" - and asked someone, "What flavor of coke do you want?" - with Mountain Dew being a perfectly acceptable answer. (This last example isn't as widespread).

nicoburns 5y ago
While not completely alien here in the UK, using brand names for generic concepts is a bit of an Americanism (perhaps because of a cultural tendency to glorify private business?) "Band-aids" are plasters (short for sticking plasters) here, and "Kleenex" are tissues (even if they're actually kleenex branded). Having said that, to "google" something or to "photoshop" something are both in common usage here. I suspect the difference has to do with the dominance of those products in their respective categories meaning that chances are you really will be using google or photoshop when you look something up. Although I can't imagine someone here using "google" in the context above to denote a specific, clearly non-google, search tool.
- cnorthwood 5y ago
  I think it's cultural. We have some brand names where I believe Americans don't, for example. For example, we hoover where Americans vacuum.
  - Macha 5y ago
    Jeep is another example that got plenty of use outside America, only really falling out of use in the last while as casual use of that type of vehicle got replaced by SUVs.
    - ryanbrunner 5y ago
      A jeep (in the casual, not the brand sense) is a different thing than a SUV though? When I think of "jeep", I think of a Jeep Wrangler-type vehicle, which is a much different thing than a SUV.
      - Macha 5y ago
        Right, but people who 20 years ago for reasons other than needing the ruggedness would have driven jeeps now mostly drive SUVs. I'm not saying that people call them SUVs now. I'm saying they buy SUVs instead if they just want a big vehicle to use on road.
- TeMPOraL 5y ago
  A widespread example of this phenomenon in Poland is calling a particular form factor of shoes "adidas" (plural: "adidasy"), regardless of the brand or manufacturer. In fact, I can't think of another word to refer to this shoe category. Another one is "kserokopiarka" for "photocopier" (and thus "skserować" for "to photocopy"), which derives from Xerox. And I think using "jeep" (pronounced as in English) for a class of cars is also common. And, of course, we Google stuff on the Internet instead of looking it up. But other than these, I don't recall any popular examples of brands turning into generic nouns in Polish.
  - 5y ago