7 April 2012

A-Z Challenge - Day 7 'G'

Is the brainchild of Arlee Bird, at Tossing it Out. The A to Z Challenges to post the letter of the alphabet every day during the month of April, with Sundays off for good behavior. Since April 1 falls on a Sunday, that will be the day we start with A. Whether you go with a theme or freestyle, your post must match the letter of the alphabet for that day. And this year nearly 1900 signed up for the challenge.

Today's letter is 'G'

so I decided - probably like hundreds of others to start with Google.
Did you know Google was chosen because  the word Google is a play on the word “googol,” a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros?

Did you know that Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin are reported to have disagree about almost everything during this first meeting in 1995?

Did you know that one year later these two began collaborating on a search engine called BackRub?

Did you know it took them another year to come up with the Google name that is a part of everyday life in most internet users' lives today?

Did you know that in August 1998 Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim wrote a check for $100,000 to an entity that did not exist... a company called Google Inc. and that a month later this company began its life in Susan Wojcicki’s garage? 

The rest, as they say 'is history'.

If you look up the word 'google' at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/google?s=t you will find it has become not only a household word, but a way of life.

This is what is said at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/google?s=t

Word Story

Founded in 1998, the Web site Google.com has become such an institution that in its short existence, it has changed not only the way we process the endless data found on the information superhighway, but also the way we think and talk about the Internet.


The term google itself is a creative spelling of googol, a number equal to 10 to the 100th power, or more colloquially, an unfathomable number. Googol was coined in the 1930s and is attributed to the nine-year-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner.


Soon after Google was created, the trademarked company name became a popular verb. People were “googling” all sorts of information, including their own names. When users google themselves, unless their names are absurdly rare, they may find their “googlegangers” (a portmanteau word combining “google” and “doppelgänger”), or their namesakes, listed in the Google search results.


A whole new industry has sprung up around Google, including the new field of search-engine optimization, or SEO, which works to boost the ranking of a name or term in Google and other search-engine results. In 2005, the newly-minted term Google bomb became popular, to describe the intentional skewing of Google search results by creating links to misleading Web pages. Whether we like it or not, we now live in a Google-centric world.

Citations

“Google has come to represent all our hopes, dreams, and fears about the disruptive promise and dangers of the Internet.”

  —Rob Hof, “Is Google Too Powerful?,” Bloomberg Businessweek  (April 9, 2007) http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_15/b4029001.htm

“Google's uncorporate slogan—‘Don't be evil’—appeals to Americans who embrace underdogs.”
  —Ken Auletta, Googled: The End of the World As We Know It  (2009) http://books.google.com/books?id=-oZY9GJW7YgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

“Show us a man or woman who’s never Googled an ex, and we’ll show you someone without an Internet connection.”
  —Em & Lo, “You, Again: Reconnecting with the ex is a dicey proposition,” New York  (September 24, 2006) http://nymag.com/relationships/mating/21634/

“I know nothing about this man, except for what I Googled.”


  —Irene Zutell, Pieces of Happily Ever After  (2009) http://books.google.com/books?id=FqhWm4GYHxMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false 
 
There are nearly 1700 participants this year and you'll find a list HERE


12 comments:

Unknown said...

I learn so much on the A-Z Challenge. Something every. There's the one for today - I didn't know that about Google! Love informative posts :)

Sally said...

Thank you for that information - it's incredible how quickly some things insinuate themselves into our daily lives.

Cate Masters said...

It's hard to imagine life without Google! I use so many of the products besides the search engine itself. Great post!

Sherry Gloag said...

Hi Susan, good to see you, thanks for coming by and hope you have a great Easter w.end.

Sherry Gloag said...

Isn't it just, Sally, it surprised me how 'recently' Google evolved to become such an integral part of our life and language.

Sherry Gloag said...

LOL Cate, I know just what you mean, have a great Easter W.end.

Paula Martin said...

I couldn't write my novels with Google! With my current, one, I'm making a note of everything I look up, either to check or to research. It's a contemproary novel, set in an area I know well, so you think I wouldn't be 'googling' very much? Wrong! By the 5th chapter I'd had over 100 google searches!

Patricia Kiyono said...

Interesting stuff! I thought you'd write about Gloag and where that name came from!

Francene Stanley said...

I didn't know these facts. Thanks for passing them on. However, I think I could live without Google. I'd resort to a dictionary, encyclopedia or one of the man referance books at the library. ;-)

Sherry Gloag said...

:-) Patty, the idea never even crossed my mind! B-A-D me!

Sherry Gloag said...

Paula, I agree, without gogle I would lose so much time chasing through books, as it is, I find it hard with googe most times. Without it.............. shudder :-)

Sherry Gloag said...

:-) Francene, I probably 'could' live without google, but would get far less writing time as it would go to chasing through books for the info.