Quo Vadis

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

ogooglebar means ungoogleable

via yahoo news

Google recently got into a row with the Swedish Language Council over a new word in its official language: "ogooglebar" which means "ungoogleable." Google complained about the word, which the council then begrudgingly deleted from the Swedish language. The Swedes did vow to continue using the word in conversation, those rebels.

The Swedish Language Council had included ogooglebar on its annual list of new words that have entered common parlance. It's a fun list that includes words like "brony" and "mossgraffiti" — which is awesome, by the way. Google's objections were actually two-fold. Not only did it remind the council that Google was a registered trademark, the company also ask that the council to revise word's definition to specify that it referred to Google searches. It had been defined as something "that cannot be found on the Web with a search engine." But the Swedes simply deleted the word from the list and included a note at the bottom that expressed their "displeasure with Google's attempts to control the language." Later, Ann Cederberg, head of the council, declared, "If we want to have ogooglebar in the language, then we'll use the word and it's our use that gives it meaning — not a multinational company exerting pressure. Speech must be free!"