# Should the word "Google" be capitalised when using it as a verb? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494 "2015-02-12T19:01:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/1 "2015-02-12T19:01:19Z")
Hi everyone, I just wrote “I googled that” in another thread, and it occurred to me to wonder whether it should be capitalised or not. Obviously “Google” is a proper noun, but now that it has been thoroughly verbed, is the capital G necessary in the context above? I’m not a grammar maven. Logic would suggest it retains the capital, I suppose, but it looked wrong on the page. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/2 "2015-02-12T19:06:13Z")
As a demanding user of the language, I say no. And, BTW, I am the official advocate of spelling it “gogol.” ---
**Author:** ![Loch\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Loch\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loch_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/3 "2015-02-12T19:08:11Z")
As a former copy editor. I agree. Capitalize it as a noun, lower case as a verb. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/4 "2015-02-12T19:33:29Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > As a demanding user of the language, I say no. > > And, BTW, I am the official advocate of spelling it “gogol.” Gogol is a Russian playwright. Googol is 10 to the 100th power. Google is the name of the search engine/company. Despite that the name was inspired by googol, the name is Google and clearly the verb “googling” comes from the search engine. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/5 "2015-02-12T19:38:18Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > And, BTW, I am the official advocate of spelling it “gogol.” > [@OldGuy](#): > > Gogol is a Russian playwright. Googol is 10 to the 100th power. Google is the name of the search engine/company. Well, I’d insist on spelling it “kafka” but no one would get that. Gogol I said, and gogol I meant. Anyone who’s read his work should understand why. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/6 "2015-02-12T23:12:05Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Well, I’d insist on spelling it “kafka” but no one would get that. > > Gogol I said, and gogol I meant. Anyone who’s read his work should understand why. The only compelling similarity between Google and Gogol is that they’re both overrated. 🆒 I don’t capitalize “google” the verb any more than I capitalize “xerox” the verb. I don’t imagine “hoover” the verb (in England et. al.) is capitalized either. You capitalize it, you’re explicitly invoking the trademark. You don’t capitalize it, and you deny the trademark. [Genericide](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark) for the win. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/7 "2015-02-12T23:36:59Z")
Yer alls rong! 10[sup]100[/sup] isn’t a gogol and it isn’t a google either. It’s a [googol](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Googol.html)! > [@](#): > > The term was coined in 1938 by 9-year-old Milton Sirotta, nephew of Edward Kasner (Kasner 1989, pp. 20-27; Bialik 2004). Kasner then extended the term to the larger “googolplex.” It should be noted that “googol” is indeed the correct spelling of the term, so the spelling “Google” refers to the internet search engine, not one with 100 zeros. The big search engine company got it’s name spelled the way it is because somebody couldn’t spel it rite. It was _supposed_ to be Googol. [Wikipedia says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googol): > [@](#): > > Widespread sounding of the word occurs through its namesake, the famous internet company Google, with the name “Google” being an accidental misspelling of “googol” by the company’s founders,[4] which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information.[5] In 2004, family members of Kasner [guy whose nephew invented the word], who had inherited the right to his book, were considering suing Google for their use of the term googol.[6] However, no suit was ever filed. Footnote [4], in the above Wikipedia excerpt, is [here](http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/8 "2015-02-12T23:39:25Z")
Here’s a thought, for comparison: When a proper noun is _adjectived_, it generally remains capitalized, e.g., words like American or British. Why should we not do the same when a proper noun is verbed? In a case like Google, is it because of copyright or trademark concerns? Or maybe people just don’t want to give Google no respect. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/9 "2015-02-12T23:39:56Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Yer alls rong! > > 10[sup]100[/sup] isn’t a gogol and it isn’t a google either. It’s a [googol](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Googol.html)! As I said back in post #4 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/10 "2015-02-12T23:47:50Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Here’s a thought, for comparison: When a proper noun is _adjectived_, it generally remains capitalized, e.g., words like American or British. > > Why should we not do the same when a proper noun is verbed? In a case like Google, is it because of copyright or trademark concerns? Or maybe people just don’t want to give Google no respect. No, it simply because the use is genericized and no longer has a direct connection to the original. You xexox a document or use a kleenix to blow your nose or take an aspirin, no matter what brand you are currently using. It’s true that many people still use the Google search engine when they google, but they don’t have to. The act is the same if you use Bing. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/11 "2015-02-13T01:07:13Z")
And there was a cartoon character _Barney Google_ from about 1919-1950. I often wondered if Larry Page and Sergey Brin knew there product had the same name as a [ne’er-do-well involved in poker, horse racing and prize fights.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Google_and_Snuffy_Smith#Barney_Google). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/12 "2015-02-13T01:10:49Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > xexox … kleenix I think those are the Chinese knockoff versions… ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/13 "2015-02-13T01:39:38Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I think those are the Chinese knockoff versions… When I do generic, I do generic. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/14 "2015-02-13T01:57:53Z")
The “hoover” analogy works for me. I always found it just slightly interesting that the verb is mostly used in the UK and (?)Ireland, when it’s the name of an American company. This is on behalf of Nikolai Gogol: If you wrote Google in Cyrillic you’d get: Гугл - which, re-romanized, spells Gugl. Or you could cyrillicize googol and get гугол, i.e. gugol. Which in Russian would be pronounced /guːgʌl/ “GOO-gull”, pretty much the same as English pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2015, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/15 "2015-02-13T05:51:32Z")
> [@janeslogin](#): > > And there was a cartoon character _Barney Google_ from about 1919-1950. I often wondered if Larry Page and Sergey Brin knew there product had the same name as a [ne’er-do-well involved in poker, horse racing and prize fights.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Google_and_Snuffy_Smith#Barney_Google). Back to the origins of Google as the name of the search engine company: According to the above-cited wiki page, Kasner’s nephew suggested Google as the name for the big number, named after Barney Google the popular cartoon character. Kasner chose to spell it “googol” (for reasons not mentioned in the Wiki – possibly fear of trademark infringement?) The wiki goes on to mention that Page and Brin, in choosing the spelling Google, did so deliberately, thus bringing the spelling “full circle” back to the name of the original comic character. This contradicts the story given in one of my links ([here it is again](http://graphics.stanford.edu/~dk/google_name_origin.html)) which seems to say that a third founder of Google chose that spelling, and that it was a mistake for the intended spelling “googol”. ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2015, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-word-google-be-capitalised-when-using-it-as-a-verb/712494/16 "2015-02-14T09:46:24Z")
Thanks everyone. Non-capitalised it is. By way of thanks, [have an appropriate Calvin and Hobbes cartoon.](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2013/01/28)