I think at this point everyone knows what Google is. We use Google as a noun, a verb, an adjective and as a synonym for search engine.
The name ‘Google’ is a play on the word ‘googol,’ coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. A ‘googol’ refers to the number represented by a 1 followed by 100 zeros. It’s a very large number. In fact, there isn’t a googol of anything in the universe — not stars, not dust particles, not atoms. Google’s use of the term reflects our mission to organize the world’s immense (seemingly infinite) amount of information and make it universally accessible and useful.
You can also use Google in many ways to improve your English and crosscultural communication
- If you are not sure if someone is a man or a woman from their name – do a Google picture search for the name and whatever the top hits are, then that’s probably right.
- If you want to check spelling of a word, try doing a Google search for each variant. The one with the most hits and the most reliable sites on the top hits will be the one to go for.
- Google Translate is a friend. It is improving day by day because it learns from the people who use it. It won’t do something 100% right but it can do it 70% right and you can correct the rest yourself. It will give you a good start on your document.
- You can find information on everything indexed in Google so if you have any questions about English you can type them in verbatim. For example if you type ‘what is the difference between effect and affect?’ you will find plenty of answers.
- If you want to refine your searches you can use Boolean logic
- If you need a currency converter just type (for example) 260 usd to gbp and it will convert from US dollars to pounds.
