Here’s a little background information on Google.
Google is a play on the word googol, which was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, Mathematics and the Imagination by Kasner and James Newman. It refers to the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. Google’s use of the term reflects the company’s mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web.google.com
So now to present day Google. Google has been used for many years now as a common day word. They are starting to face a big problem with this word usage though, because it seems that they have become more than just an everyday word — but a way talking about the Internet. “Just google it” or “I was googled!” are some fairly common phrases which you may hear in the elevator going to work. You don’t hear people saying “Did you yahoo it?” or “someone yahoo’d me!”…for a simple reason, Google has been doing it better for that much longer. Google is more popular, Google has proven themselves to be better, and Google is really taking the prize home on this one. Well…maybe, but maybe not.
This corresponds right back to Google’s entry into the Oxford Dictionary not too long ago.
Last month, the Oxford English Dictionary also added the verb “Google” — but with a capital “G” — to its online version. LAtimes.com
As stated, Google was added — not google. This does create an issue for Google because now their trademark is in the dictionary of instead of just the verb usage of the word. This could create some branding name issues for them because people may come to know the word so well that they lose the actual meaning behind it. Google is not the first company to run into these issues. (via)
