Did You Know That…

…Google continues to fight fiercely against its name slipping from trademark status into common usage? The verb “to google” used for online research is found today from Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Oxford Dictionary, to name a few.

One of the most memorable incidents was when Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore (Institut för språk och folkminnen) published the word “ogooglebart” (which translates as ungoogleable) on its list of new words. Google then asked the Institute to amend their definition of the word. The Institute declined and chose to remove the word from the list alto gether, with chief of the Institute Ann Cederberg asking a current question: who has the right to create and decide over language?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ungoogleable-removed-from-list-of-swedish-words-after-row-over-definition-with-google-8550096.html

… Finnish production company declined a restaurant in Finland from using its comedy character’s several mottos as names of drinks? A comedy character Antsku, who comes from a town called Imatra, appeared in a Finnish comedy show called Putous. During the tv show she launched many mottos such as “mie romahan” (I’m freaking out) and “täs mie nyt oon” (well I’m here now). She gained a large fan base in Imatra, a result of which was that a local restaurant started to serve drinks named after Antsku’s punchlines. The production company forbid this, however, with its spokesman declining any further comments.

The production company and the restaurant chain have since reached a mutual understanding over the matter, and the restaurant chain has not only started to re-sell drinks named after Antsku’s punchlines in its Imatra location, but also started other collaborations with the production company.

http://www.iltalehti.fi/viihde/2014020518012258_vi.shtml (in Finnish)

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