Google, the name, originated as a misspelling of the word googol, the largish number 10, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 (that’s a hundred zeros if you want to know).

In July 2006 Google, the noun, was officially elevated to a verb, meaning "to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the internet," by not one but two leading English language dictionaries: Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary.

Pretty cool, huh? Well . . . sort of. The brand managers at Xerox are reported to have mixed feelings about their noun being used as a verb. This is not because they’re not happy to have the word Xerox on everyone’s lips but because people around the office say "Let me xerox this for you" when they really just mean photocopy.

You can see the problem can’t you? Kleenex, Jello and Band-Aid can. Their brands aren’t used as verbs but they’ve come to define genres, which is way too close to generic for people responsible for brand health.

Google’s copyright attorney sent a letter to Frank Ahrens at the Washington Post calling the verb form to google an act of genericide and outlining the proper usage of the brand name Google, including, Mr. Ahrens says, the following:

Appropriate: He ego-surfs on the Google search engine to see if he’s listed in the results.

Inappropriate: He googles himself.

Appropriate: I ran a Google search to check out that guy from the party.

Inappropriate: I googled that hottie.

For what it’s worth, here’s what I think about that. In addition to its motto, Don’t Be Evil, I think Google should add the in-house motto, Don’t Be Silly. Google defined search for us with a dynamic and resilient product group so power people can’t help identifying the process with the brand. It’s in the lexicon; done deal; move on.

Can Google afford to send five-hundred dollar correction letters to organizations like the Washington Post – letters rendered vaguely threatening by the fact that they’re signed by an attorney? I suppose they can. But really: Don’t Be Silly.

In his wonderful, Selling the Invisible, Harry Beckwith reminds us of the difference between our position and our position statement. Our position, he says, "is a coldhearted, no-nonsense statement of how you are perceived in the minds of prospects. It is your position.

"A positioning statement, by contrast, states how you wish to be perceived . . ." and so on.

Google may wish to be positioned as the premier internet search engine (yawn) but we have positioned Google as so important to our daily lives that we think of it as something we do.

Google (as Xerox before) suffers the enviable problem of defining a category so thoroughly at the beginning that the rest of us simply can’t think of a clearer way to express our intentions than to invoke your name. So sue us. Better yet, keep figuring out how to generously insinuate your services into our lives; keep those copyright attorneys busy on new work. And we’ll keep sending you the money.