I subscribe to a word a day service and they have themes each week. Recently the theme was ‘new’ words related to our new world. If you would like to register, click here.
I often do not have time to read the daily mails thoroughly but even a quick glance somehow registers the word and makes you think. It is also a nice element in my mail feed.
PRONUNCIATION:
(GOOG-uhl) 
MEANING:
verb tr., intr.: To search for information online using a search engine, especially Google.
ETYMOLOGY:
From the search engine Google. Earliest documented use: 1998.
NOTES:
Tracing evolution of the term google takes us on a fascinating trail of how wordsare coined, change meaning, and get established in a language. Google, the search engine,was named after googol, a word coined by a nine-year-old boy. A googol is the number one followed by hundred zeros.Larry Page and Sergey Brin used an alteration of the word googol to name their search engine, Google, and later Larry suggested its verb form:
“We plan to have a much bigger index than our current 24 million pages soon. … Have fun and keep googling!”
Larry Page; Google Friends Mailing List; Jul 8, 1998.
Larry Page; Google Friends Mailing List; Jul 8, 1998.
Interestingly, the verb google has been around for more than a hundred years, though in a different sense. In a game of cricket, to google is to throw a googly, a ball that changes direction mid-air.
| googly (cricket, 1901) | ⇨ | to google (cricket, 1907) | ||
| googol (math, 1940) | ⇨ | Google (search engine, 1997) | ⇨ | to google (to search, 1998) |
USAGE:
“To google is now in broad usage as a verb for retrieving information from the Internet. If the tech giant has its way, ‘I Googled’ will become a standard reply to the question, ‘How did you get here?’”
In the Self-Driving Seat; The Economist (London, UK); May 31, 2014.
In the Self-Driving Seat; The Economist (London, UK); May 31, 2014.
captcha
PRONUNCIATION:
(KAP-chuh)
MEANING:
noun: A test used to make sure that a human, not a computer program, is using a system. The test typically involves reading distorted text.
ETYMOLOGY:
An acronym of Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. The Turing test is named after Alan Turing, a mathematician and computer scientist, who proposed that a computer could be considered intelligent if, while interacting with a human and a computer, someone could not tell which is which. A captcha is a kind of reverse Turing test. Earliest documented use: 2001.
USAGE:
“Yet here we are, watching a carrier [Ryanair] that considered charging passengers to pee, opening a Twitter account, accepting American Express credit cards, and removing its annoying Captcha.”
Pol O Conghaile; Be Travel Savvy; Irish Independent(Dublin); Oct 5, 2013.
Pol O Conghaile; Be Travel Savvy; Irish Independent(Dublin); Oct 5, 2013.
crowdsource
PRONUNCIATION:
(KROUD-sohrs)
MEANING:
verb tr.: To enlist the services of a large number of people outside the company, for little or no pay, to accomplish a task.
ETYMOLOGY:
A blend of crowd + outsource. Earliest documented use: 2006.
NOTES:
While crowdsourcing is typically associated with the online world, it has been around for a long time. One of the best examples of offline crowdsourcing is in lexicography. The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, was produced in large part by the contributions of the general public who sent in quotations for words. You too can take part in it.
USAGE:
“Bugwolf tests apps and websites for companies by setting loose a global army of crowdsourced testers who could be anywhere from Brisbane to Bulgaria or Bangalore.”
Rick Wallace; NAB Banks on Local Bug-Buster Start-Up;The Australian (Sydney); Dec 4, 2014.
Rick Wallace; NAB Banks on Local Bug-Buster Start-Up;The Australian (Sydney); Dec 4, 2014.
