~10 years ago I would say “google it” often. But now I don’t think I say that at all, and would say “search for it” or similar.

I don’t think I really consciously decided to stop saying it, but I suppose it just felt weird to explicitly refer to one search engine while using another.

Just me? Do you say, or hear others say, “google it” in $current_year? Is it different for techies and normies?

  • li10@feddit.ukEnglish
    50·
    3 months ago

    I genuinely think we could one day reach a point where Google is no longer the dominant way to search for things, and yet people will still say “Google it”.

    • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
      201·
      3 months ago

      Yeah, happens all the time. Can’t think of an English example right now but the German verb for putting on makeup is “schminken” although nobody really knows the company “Schminke” anymore.

      • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
        27·
        3 months ago

        One English example is to “hoover” - people say it all the time when they mean using the vacuum cleaner, whether or not it’s made by Hoover.

        • MudMan@fedia.io
          19·
          3 months ago

          “Jello” is a brand name, which I think may be the example most people in the US specifically don’t realize. There are tons of others.

          I think “googling” counts because a) it kinda makes sense even without the branding, b) I hear it all the time, and c) I say it myself even though I haven’t used Google as my default search engine for ages.

          • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world
            2·
            3 months ago

            You know, I mostly only know the US examples of this and always assumed it was just more common here, now I’m wondering about generic trademarks around the world.

            • MudMan@fedia.io
              2·
              3 months ago

              I know a few. Xerox is used for photocopying in other languages. Kleenex is the accepted term for “paper tissue” in Spain. Zodiac and Vespa are used for specific types of ship and motorcycle in multiple places, even when not manufactured by those brands. Thermos is a brand name, used in multiple countries as well. Sellotape is used in the UK for transparent sticky tape.

              I don’t speak every regional variant of every language, but the short answer is this is definitely not a US thing. At all.

              • TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world
                1·
                3 months ago

                We definitely use all of those in the US as well, though I haven’t heard the Zodiac one. I was asking more for regional things like this rather than saying it was just something in the US.

                • davidgro@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  3 months ago

                  In the US it’s Scotch tape, we never had that UK brand, so it’s unheard of as a generic also.

                  And Hoover is a brand, but I guess wasn’t as dominant, so nearly everyone just says vacuum as the verb.

        • Susaga@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          Ever heard of hook and loop fasteners? The Velcro company would really like it if you called it hook and loop fasteners.

      • goldteeth@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        13·
        3 months ago

        I know for a fact I’ve said I was going to “Xerox some copies” on a machine that was almost certainly not manufactured by the Xerox Holdings Corporation.

      • maegul (he/they)@lemmy.mlEnglish
        71·
        3 months ago

        Just learnt of a new example today. In Australia a common kind of small tree is called a “wattle”. It’s flowers are yellow, everyone in Australia knows about them, and the flower is the floral emblem of the country (the yellow and green colours of Australian sports teams is probably from the flower too).

        The name “wattle” however comes from “wattle and daub” (wikipedia), a method of construction that uses woven branches filled with some form of clay\cement like material such as mud. “Wattle” trees were ideal for and just used very often for “wattle and daub” building in early colonial times that it’s name became “wattle”, which generally refers to the woven branches. Now no one knows that construction technique or its name, but the know the tree’s name very well.

        Otherwise, the save icon being a floppy disc is a clear visual example in technology that’s just now-ish passing beyond its redundancy.

        • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          Otherwise, the save icon being a floppy disc is a clear visual example in technology that’s just now-ish passing beyond its redundancy.

          It cracks me up that cars have a phone icon based on a handset style from an old home landline phone. I guess enough businesses still use them?

          • hendrik@palaver.p3x.deEnglish
            41·
            3 months ago

            You still got a point. Other examples would be “Nutella”, “Tesa”, “Edding”, famously also “Tempo”, “Zewa” …

            • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
              2·
              3 months ago

              “Selters” in the East for sparkling water. And I guess for the English language Champagne qualifies, although the clarification in this case even became a meme.