On Thursday, Merriam-Webster and Oxford University Press announced the newest additions to their respective dictionaries. Among new science and technology words are agritourism, biodiesel, mouse potato, ringtone, spyware … and google.
The word google is defined as a transitive verb meaning ‘to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web.’ While the entry retains capitalisation in explaining the word’s etymology — ‘Google, trademark for a search engine’ — the verb google is lowercase.
The Oxford English Dictionary (‘OED’), which also released its quarterly update June on 15, added Google as a verb, but it retained the capitalisation. The OED also included a wide range of both quirky and commonplace tech terms that Merriam-Webster has not yet deemed dictionary-worthy. They include:
Among other law-related additions are:
Oh, and let’s not forget:
These additions follow the controversial selection of podcast as the OED’s ‘word of the year’ for 2005 and its subsequent inclusion in the Dictionary. Perhaps more questionable was the inclusion of chugger, Europop and Hinglish — what is this, Chambers? Whatever the case, it appears that more care has been taken to justify google’s recognition:
‘A noun turns into a verb very often. Google is a unique case. Because they have achieved so much prominence in the world of search, people have been using the word google as a generic verb now. Our main aim is to respond to the use of the language that we see. We consider ourselves very respectful of trademark [sic]. That [google as a lowercase verb] is really a lexicographical judgment based on the evidence that was analysed …’
Becoming synonymous with an invention may hold a certain amount of historic glory for a company, but ubiquitous use of the company’s name to describe something can make it harder to enforce a trade mark. Bayer lost Aspirin as a US trade mark in 1921 after it was determined that the abbreviation for acetylsalicylic acid had become a generic term. The trade marks Band-Aid, Kleenex, Rollerblade and Xerox have had similar issues.
The inclusion of Energizer bunny (noun) may prove particularly troublesome for a certain Australian battery manufacturer.
Nonetheless, it’s great to see some traditionally conservative dictionaries recognising technological neologisms as legitimate members of the English language. My scrabble scores will be much improved as a result.
Source: CNET News