I love the idea of trademarked name becoming a verb. Take Hoovering the carpet. Or Xeroxing a copy. Or Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-Chocolating a bad day. (Okay, maybe that one is not common venacular, but its is most certainly common practice.)
Then of course there is the most universal: don't worry, I'll Google it.
Have you ever wondered whether you can conjugate Google? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the answer is yes. Google is the real deal - a recognised verb. And I have heard my mum talk about Googling. So that seals it.Google [verb]
Googled [past participle]
Googling [present participle]
But enough of conjugation - I have chanced* upon something far more exciting. Did you know that the Google search engine has its own secret language? Special stuff you can add to refine your searches - its magic.
* I mean "chanced" in the sense of following a comment left on my blog by someone called Generic Viagra. Its a long story. And possibly not easily explained. So I think I should stop now.
define:word/phrase
Use define: to search for definitions of the words listed after it it. For example if you Google ...
define:stitch in the ditch
... you will receive definitions for "stitch in the ditch" sourced from various websites. Each version is referenced back to the original source.
link:URL
Combine link: with a webpage address and you will see a list of webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For example if I wanted to see who links to Hoppo Bumpo I would Google ...
link:http://hoppobumpo.blogspot.com
related:URL
Combine related: with a webpage address and you will see a list of webpages that Google identifies as being similar to the page you have specified. For example, if you Google ...
related:http://www.sewing.patternreview.com
... the search will return a list of websites related to sewing patterns.
info:URL
Combine info: with a webpage address and Google will return some background information about the page. The information is usually about 23 words.
filetype:file type
Combine filetype: with a file extension, such as PDF or PPT to locate specific file types. For example if I Google ...
filetype:PDF "pressing ham"
... the search will return an excellent list of PDF documents that mention pressing hams.
site:domain
Adding site: to a search restricts the results to those websites in the domain you have added. For example if you Google ...
garbage site:hoppobumpo.blogspot.com
... the results will show all posts on Hoppo Bumpo refering to garbage (as opposed to showing all the posts that are garbage ... which would retrieve my blog in its entirety)
allintitle:keyword/s
Using this modifier ensures that only webpage titles are seached for the keyword or words you specify. The text within pages is not searched. For example, if you Google ...
allintitle:pattern alterations
... the results will show only pages that have the words pattern and alterations in the title. None of the page text will be searched. Allintitle cannot be combined with other search criteria.
intitle:keyword/s
This works like the allintitle modifier, but you can can combine it with other search criteria. For example if you Google ...
intitle:keyword/s
This works like the allintitle modifier, but you can can combine it with other search criteria. For example if you Google ...
intitle:pattern alterations
.... the results will show all pages that have the word pattern in the page title and the word alterations somewhere in the text of the webpages.
allinurl:keywords/s
Using this modifier ensures that only URLs are seached for the word or words you specify. There's no search of the webpage text. For example, if you Google ...
intitle:dress pattern
... the results will only contain websites with both the words dress and pattern in the URL.
inurl:keyword/s
This works like the allinurl modifier, but you can can combine it with other search criteria. For example if you Google ...
inurl:keyword/s
This works like the allinurl modifier, but you can can combine it with other search criteria. For example if you Google ...
intitle:dress pattern
... the results will contain websites with the word dress in the URL and the word pattern somewhere in the text of the page.
