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Cool question. My theory: I think it's because they have phenomenal market penetration- so many people use Google search, Gmail, Google Maps. The term Google (t
by visakanv 13y ago
Cool question. My theory: I think it's because they have phenomenal market penetration- so many people use Google search, Gmail, Google Maps. The term Google (to me, at least) elicits a microcosm of the Valley at large. Do they have the most employees, or the most political will? I'm thinking of "Washington" as the shorthand for "USA", or "Wall St." as shorthand for "New York"... maybe I'm wrong, but it's an interesting thought experiment to sit and evaluate all these "X is the default shorthand for Y" statements that get thrown around.
- kamjam 13y agoI'm not American or from SF, but interestingly from the the shuttle routes posted by @potatolicious I would say nearly all those companies on that list - Apple, eBay, Facebook, Yahoo - have just as high a market penetration. I'm surprised theyt didn't get targeted too BUT this may well just be for the sake of coordination for now.
- kissickas 13y agoThe word you're looking for is metonym. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metonyms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metonyms