4 Sep
2018
4 Sep
'18
2:26 a.m.
On Tuesday, 4 September 2018 at 10:45:14 +1000, Dave Horsfall wrote:
Google was founded on this day in 1998, by a couple of
uni students who
went on to become millionaires; the verb "to google" has in fact entered
the lexicon, but these days I use DuckDuckGo (remember: you are not
Google's customer, but their product).
There is some confusion over the name "Google"; some say that someone
couldn't spell the mathematical number "googol" (10**100), and others
claim that is was a joke on their part, which I suspect is revisionist
history.
I would appreciate a correction, and need I point out that a web
reference may not cut the mustard?
In case of doubt about English words, I refer to the Oxford English
Dictionary. This time they have surpassed themselves:
google, v.1
intr. Of the ball: to have a âgooglyâ break and swerve. Of the
bowler; to bowl a googly or googlies; also (trans.), to give a
googly break to (a ball).
They do, however, have a second entry. Note capitalization:
Google, v.2
Etymology: < Google, a proprietary name for an Internet search engine launched in
1998.
The name of the search engine was perhaps conceived as an
alteration of googol n., with allusion to the large amount of
information contained on the Internet.
1. intr. To use the Google search engine to find information on
the Internet.
2. trans. To enter (a search term) into the Google search engine
to find information on the Internet; to search for information
about (a person or thing) in this way.
Greg
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