As a writer Google is your best friend. Especially in todays day and age. You need something? You Google it. It has become a Verb. A way of life for us Millennials.
Their have been other search engines that have tried to compete, yet pale in comparison to Google and its near magical search engine.
As I think back to writers of old, I don’t know how they did it. How they survived, but then that is what Encyclopedias and Dictionaries were for. It was a time when gasp typewriters were used.
I don’t know what makes me shudder more, no Google, or typewriters. Their is no backspace with a typewriter, no delete. You mess up, you use white out. As someone who types quickly and edits after, it would be my worst nightmare, I think right along with outlines. Remember my diatribe on outlines? You know what I am talking about. Nightmares people!
Thankfully for my sanity and those around me, I don’t have to worry about those things, and only dwell on them when I am working on historical fiction. For which I say many thank yous for modern plumbing as well as everything else!
One of the great uses for Google is names. For me, naming is important, whether readers realize it or not, names have meanings which usually date back to their origins and that go with the story.
Which means, I Google a lot, and I spend quite a bit of time on baby sites. At least when I have kids I know what I will be naming them. And no it will not be Apple. Gwyneth stole it already. What a shame.
While on the subject of kids I did find the perfect name for my future daughter and the translation is daughter of the sea. and no it isn’t compass.
I have found a few things out for instance Aberforth from Harry Potter s an actual name (It means from the river). Apparently JK Rowling did not make it up.
While Google is great, it and the websites it pulls up can take the literal name take for instance Aqua. Really Google? While a perfectly nice name, I want meaning, not the literal interpretation Google. I don’t think Aqua would fit in an American Revolutionary Historical novel.
It conjures visions of Thomas Jefferson singing Barbie Girl by Aqua. Albeit funny, what an image.
But then Google isn’t just well known for its super sonic speed, but also the many laughs and of course cute images coinciding with anniversaries.
Not only has Google made me appreciate modern technology and its many uses, I am actually happy to be named Kate. Yes there are many Kates, but it really is one of the more normal names out there.
What are some funny things you have come across while Googling?
