Sometime ago, I wanted to talk with a real person at Amazon about my order. I looked everywhere on the Amazon site. I couldn’t believe it– I could not find a phone number anywhere.
Aggravated, I typed into Google “What is the telephone number for Amazon?” And it came up– 1-800 -201-7575.
Today, just for fun, I typed in the same question. Now, there is not only the site that I saw the first time, but several other sites pop up. One suggests that it would be easier just to google “telephone Amazon.” Direct, simple.
Since I have a tendency unknowingly to make up words (left over, I’m sure, from a childhood where my grandpa, with his Irish heritage, started me on this path), I often use Google just to see if results come up for a word that I’m not sure about, such as “uptick.” When I heard someone use it, I thought maybe it had been made up. When I googled “uptick,” I found 964,000 results. Yep, it is a word in good standing.
In an email exchange, “chaise longues” didn’t look right. Google not only let me know that “chaise longues” is correct, but it also gave me some websites to add to my list of interesting resources:
1) “Common Errors in English” by a professor of English at Washington State University.
2) Michael Quinion’s “World Wide Words” in which he writes about international English from a British view.
Since I had learned that I could now use “telephone Amazon” as a shortcut on Google, I decided to shoot some other commands at Google.
I tried “spell chaise lounge,” and the Columbia Guide to Standard American English gave two spellings: “chaise longue, chaise lounge (n.).” The Guide said, “Both terms are Standard today, but those who know French still take exception to chaise lounge.”
Both terms are standard? I decided I’d check other resources about that!
This time, to see what a difference a verb would make, I commanded “define chaise lounge.” The Free Dictionary “redirected” me to “chaise longue” while the Urban Dictionary screamed
“ERROR…ERROR…ERROR.
Use this if you do NOT know what you are saying.
A term used by wannabes to try to look intelligent.”
Thank you, Googe and Urban Dictionary, I don’t want to look like a wannabe.
As I write, the blog being honored at WordPress as the “Blog of the Minute” is “Life at Google—the Microsoftie Perspective,” in which the writer is revealing the negative side about working at Google.
Weethan, a WordPress blogger, says, “And we say no to google, why?”
A comment from Wahyu, another WordPress blogger, gives due credit to Google, and also makes me laugh:
google is like a my wife
i need tutorial for study just ask google
i need tutorial for life just ask google
i need anything first thing is google!
google google google oh yeahhhh
I agree with Wahyu; I can’t imagine not having Mr. Google ever at the ready.
Nancy
Nancy Whichard, PhD, PCC Your International Dissertation Coach and Academic Career Coach nancy @ nancywhichard.comwww.nancywhichard.com
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