'Google' lands in dictionary

2006-07-07 20:46

Washington - "I googled you," "google me": The word "google," which has become synonymous with searching the internet since the advent of the popular search engine of the same name, has just found its way into a US dictionary.

Due out this fall, the 2006 edition of the venerable Merriam-Webster Dictionary features the verb along with several other new words.

But associate editor Peter Sokolowski said the high-tech addition was born out of society setting a new language trend.

"It's not a decision; it's the acknowledgement of its use in the newspapers, the literature, the media. It's very commonly found in print and is used with no explanation," Sokolowski told AFP.

Although the trademark shed its capital "G" in the process of becoming a verb, "google" is in good company among similar locutions that made the leap from brand name to verb, including xerox (to make a photocopy).

Also among the dictionary's class of 2006 - already available on its free online dictionary website - are the words "spyware," "supersize," "avian influenza," the cellphone-inspired "ringtone", and "manga," referring to a Japanese comic book or graphic novel.

"Before, a word used to take 10 years to be acknowledged. Now, it goes much faster," Sokolowski noted.

The dictionary has also anointed the phrase "mouse potato," to refer to someone who is glued to the computer screen, akin to the earlier "couch potato," who was glued to the television screen.

- AFP