Last week, I wrote an article about the new Yahoo Poker site, and while researching it, I sent an inquiry to yahoopoker at pokerresponse.com (the address provided by the “Contact Us” page).  The next day, a reply directed me to a certain Yahoo employee.  But the email had passed through several people’s hands, and one individual had - in his own words - “googled” me.

I can’t swear that it was a Yahoo staff member who wrote this; the person appears to have forwarded my questions to a customer service rep at St Minver, Yahoo’s partner in its Yahoo Poker endeavor.  But still, for a Yahoo partner - or anyone else connected with the search engine corporation - to use the term “googled” struck me as funny.

Did he actually turn his back on Yahoo and use the Google site?  Or did he just dilute the meaning of the word and use it to describe a Yahoo search?  He did, after all, employ a lowercase “g.”

Either way, Yahoo’s not likely to be happy.  That second possibility might annoy Google, as well - the Mountain View-based company has fought hard to keep its name from slipping “from trademarked status into common usage.”

And, well, that’s about all there is to this “story,” to be honest.  Perhaps, in order to restore some sort of karmic balance, I’ll go yahoo someone now.

Tags: Yahoo, Google, St Minver