Sunday, July 23rd, 2006 | Author: Kalle
ググる /(v5r) to Google (i.e. to search for on the WWW using the Google search engine)/

(the left part reads “guguru”)

What’s funny? Japanese frequently adopt foreign words, but as the grammar of Japanese is so completely different from that of e.g. Germanic, they can’t use a foreign word like they use a Japanese one. Hence (among other things) why Katakana exists, the alphabet dedicated to foreign words. But in this case a foreign word (google) became an actual verb — a godan-verb of the Iku/Yuku special class, to be exact (source) — and I can only presume it can be used accordingly. E.g.
“ググりませんか?” (gugurimasenka?), “Shan’t we google it?”,
“ググれない!” (gugurenai!), “I can’t google it!”,
“ググった!” (gugutta!), “I googled it!”,
“ググって見付けた!” (gugutte mitsuketa!), “I googled it, and found it!”
“ググれ!” (gugure!), “Google it! (commanding)”
“ググって下さい!” (gugutte kudasai), “Please google it.”
“ググらないで下さい!” (guguranaide kudasai), “Please don’t google it.”

[etc]

Update: Native Japanese has now confirmed that this verb actually isn’t really used a lot. If I step up the geek ladder a few steps I’ll find some who use it though, no doubt.

Category: General, Japan
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2 Responses

  1. Google nastygrams media cos for using “google” as verb…

    The search giant distributed legal missives to various media organizations, demanding that they cease using the word “Google” as a verb. In the last two months, that word was added to both the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster’s Collegia…

  2. Défense de Googler !…

    Google,diLe verbe “to google” est à peine entré au dictionnaire que la firme au G majuscule veut en restreindre l’usage… pour des raisons de copyright ! Si, si, c’est vrai….

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