Shorthand and brand recognition

A few years ago, when I started teaching and first told students how to begin their research, I talked about library resources, journal article repositories, music encyclopedias, and the kinds of things that could be found by "internet search engines." Today, for that last bit, I merely told my students to Google their topics. The fact that the verb "to Google" carries with it so much implicit information (location = the Internet, means = a computer and a browser, method = point the browser to http://www.google.com) fascinates me. The English language is a funny thing; its capacity for shorthand is astounding. I didn't have to say, "turn on your computer, open a browser application, type http://www.google.com into the address bar, enter your search term in the query form, and click Go", I only had to say, "Google it." Human beings are either astoundingly clever, or astoundingly lazy. :)