Being Googled

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 11/4/02 7:24:11 AM Eastern Standard Time,
susandgilbert at MSN.COM writes:

> When did being "Googled" become part of our lexicon?
>  New Yorker cartoon features two men at a bar and one shudders and exclaims
:
>  "Whew! I feel like I have just been "Googled."

"Barney Google and his goo-goo-googly eyes" (a song whose age I won't even
estimate) implies that "Google" (a proper name) has spawned the adjective
"googly" and therefore it should not be improbable that someone would also
use it as a verb ("Barney googled Miss X...").  Actually this derivation fits
your context better than a derivation from the name of the Internet search
engine.  In a bar (particularly if the bar in question is notorious as a
pick-up bar) one is more likely to notice having eyed in a strange or
remarkable manner than to notice one's Web pages have just been examined.

      - James A. Landau
        systems engineer
        FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
        Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA