So Google has finally gone the way of xerox and hoover and become a verb. According to the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary (it's big in the US, apparently), you can now google, with a small g, meaning "to use the Google search engine to obtain information". Good for Google - although possibly bad for its trademark rights - Sneak says. However, it is clear that Merriam-Webster has missed some of the other, increasingly common uses of the word. For starters, it’s a verb meaning “to smugly assert that your workplace is better than anyone else's”. As in: “Well, we've got a juice bar in the lobby,” googled Larry, shallowly. And google surely also means “to engage in an act of craven political expediency, especially advocating freedom of information to Western audiences, while censoring what Chinese users can look at to appease the authorities”. Are there any other definitions Sneak has missed? Purely in the interests of the English language, obviously, do tell...

10 Jul 2006