Use ‘Google’ at your peril

last updated 8 January 2015

Don’t say “Google” unless you really mean it, said Suzanne Choney in NBCNews.com. The search engine firm is unhappy with people who co-opt its name as a general verb for looking things up on the Internet. In Sweden, the tech giant recently objected after the country’s Language Council sought to add ogooglebar (“ungoogleable”), meaning something that can’t be found on the Web using a search engine, to a list of new words. Rather than fight, the council removed the word and voiced its “displeasure with Google’s attempts to control the language.” For its part, Google said it was “pleased that so many people think of us” as synonymous with Web search, but “let’s face it, we do have a brand to protect.” Google wouldn’t be the first trademark to fall into generic use, as happened to “aspirin,” “escalator,” and “zipper.”