According to The Independent, Google has warned media outlets not to use its name as a verb. If you remember, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary included “google” in its list of definitions this year. Used as a transitive verb, it means “to use the Google search engine to obtain information (about a person) on the World Wide Web.”

But apparently, the Google brandanistas (all of whom have sworn to “do no evil”) don’t want their brand to be so powerful as to actually mean something. Hasn’t anyone ever told them that entering the lexicon is exactly the type of brand-recognition all branders attempt to achieve? There’s no brand more powerful than the one that defines an entire category. You think Canon’s photocopier division wouldn’t kill for Xerox’s brand recognition? You think AltaVista’s wouldn’t rape its own sister to have the people say to one another, “Hey, go AltaVista that for me, would you?”

Dumb, Google. Dumb.