I don’t know if any of you have happened to see the Google customized logo for today but it looks distinctly like it’s missing the letter “l.” Knowing Google’s penchant for obscure mathematical, scientific, and literary references, I did a search on the word “Googe.” Sure enough, I got a wikipedia entry for Barnabe Googe, a 16th century poet mostly famous for the following line:
I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Update: Think this is nifty? Please go digg it so more people learn about it! Share the love on Valentine’s Day!
Update #2: It was just pointed out to me by one of my friends (thanks, Derek) that there’s another, even more direct reference for the day in here – Debbie Googe of “My Bloody Valentine!” Nice find, D!
Update #3: Perhaps we are reading too much subtlety into the Google design. Google’s own blog now has a post stating that “those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately.” I still like Derek and my interpretation better so neener neener!
Update #4: And now the disgusting ones from Urban Dictionary via the comment thread from the UK Register article. Warning – these are not “safe” and explicitly reference sexual practices in a “coarse” manner. And this whole post started so innocently!
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Good lord. That is a sad line of poetry.
“I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die”???
Hey nerds, if this speaks to you, just go and talk to her already!
I can’t agree with you more. If this link is intentional on behalf of geekdom at Google, I think it speaks volumes!
good research! not to sure if this is what they meant by it but i agree with you that this explanation is better!!
http://digg.com/design/550_HQ_Nature_Wallpapers
Jesus- GIVE IT A REST! You are wrong! Google is spelled right! Did you fail Inglish Klass? Loot @ it! http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/14/happy_vaentines_day/
The L is made of chocolate
ahhhhh at the Urban Dictionary references
I just googed myself……………….
This is stupid. The “L” is clearly the stem of the strawberry. Those of you looking into it too much are the nerds.
How about someone explaining why we look into the google header as if it was the dead sea scrolls?
I appreciate anyones interest in knowledge and obscure references, but damn… how much time (and money) do you think this wastes in conjecture and discussion? OMG – I’m posting! – another $10 down the crapper for the parent company.
Quick, everyone jump on myspace at work.
–N
The L is missing. You can compare other Valentine logos that Google has done and you’ll see that the L is always there. The stem of the strawberry is really the “ear” of the lower-case “g.” Any graphic designer who studied typography would know.
If found another definition:
http://www.meshsf.com/blog3/2007/02/14/googe-valentines-day-logo/
Look at the chocolate on the berry, it is HEART! Smooth
This is dumb. THE STEM IS THE L YOU GEEKS!!!! :-p
Well in Columbus, Ohio – the reference sent MANY of us to the LOCAL Anthony-Thomas Company for Chocolate Strawberries.
I am sure Anthony-Thomas is very happy with google currently . . . .
I got the MBV reference from Reddit[1], so no credit is due
1. http://reddit.com/info/14hou/comments/c14ie3
I think the “G” and the “L” are mixed together, like a couple in love
It’s so simpler
Don’t forget about Debbie Googe !!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Googe
The line of poetry is not sad nor pathetic. It’s just meant as love at first sight. Very sweet.
The “L” is represented by the stem of the strawberry.
Geez people, the chocolate is the g and the stem on strawberry is the L. Quit reading too much into things.
Word from http://lovelisa.vox.com/library/post/no-l-for-love.html is this:
THIS JUST IN – It appears that the L in GOOGLE’s logo (which our sources tell us stands for the word “Love” in the acronym of GOOGLE) has taken the day off… Our sources explain that since this is the actual DAY of LOVE, he requests this particular day off every year.
bk, I don’t know how clear a half-letter is, although I do agree that the frantic wikipedia searches smack of nerdiness.
The stem looks sort of… phallic. And the chocolate covered strawberry? Don’t get me started about that! That sort of looks like a poo covered boob. Romance indeed! More like filth and debauchary! *snicker*
Sounds like that james blunt song he wrote when he was high or something heh
The esoteric research is good and all, but it’s pretty clear to see that the chocolate heart is the G and the strawberry’s stem is the L.
Look at the chocolate swirl: An upside-down “e” preceeded by an “o”, and maybe (with enough or too much imagination) a “v”: l-o-v-e
And of course you should have “googled” for “googe” to find the poets….
maybe the L and G are “in love” and are united. represented with the stem, strawberry, and chocolate…sounds kind freaky i now. but maybe that is all it is.
the unification of the L and G simply because its valentines and they are in love. nothing obscure about it.
The G and the L are kissing, making out. Are you people dense?
Haha, I didn’t even notice the “l” was missing. I guess I don’t pay much attention to the little flourishes that Google adds on their logo around holidays.
its either reference to poet Googe or then it’s bad design. How do we know for sure it’s bad design? Because half of the people insist that there is no L-letter included.
Personally i have no idea how people can see letter L there, why on earth it would be on top of G, its a frikkin stem of a strawberry! You don’t combine stem with strawberry, strawberrys include the stem by default, as some people here insist that combining letters G and L to make them look like a strawberry is somehow “easy to see”.
I’m surprised not everyone can see it. I guess it’s like those 3D eye things, or those psychological tests where you either see a cup or two people facing each other. As soon as I looked at it, I saw a “G” made out of chocolate and then an L, the vertical line starts with the stem and moves down, and the horizontal line moves out in the chocolate.
Isn’t it obvious?
Some of you are idiots. There is no ‘l’ in Google’s logo today. If you think that this kind of obscure reference is beyond Google, then you obviously know nothing about the company. It is filled with geeks and scientists. Don’t be upset because you were to inept to even fathom a clue who Googe was. Perhaps you should spend more time reading literature than trolling someone’s message board.
maybe the G is on top of the L doing the tango.
$357,000,000 wasted today thanks to Googe
And what about the 2nd result? Debbie Googe? A basist from the rock band My Bloody Valentine
i’m so glad the people at google are hard at work explaining why they spelled google as googe today.
the stem of the strawberry is the L… noobs
“I did but see her passing by, and yet I love her till I die.”
sounds like a line from a bloody James Blunt song.
I think Google explained it best:
Gs are red, Ls are green….strawberry is red the stem is green….duh
I think that when google said “those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately.†They meant that if you actually felt the strawberry in your mouth when your eyes hit the second g, then you would only really be able to produce a sort of half-L.
Personally, I like the idea that the “L” took the day off to perhaps swoon that sexy “K” next to him in the alphabet.
i think you might be digging a bit to deep into this. i just figured that the stem was an ‘L’.
How about the fact that G could stand for Gay and L for Lesbian, meaning that Google included homosexuals in their valentines day celebration?
It’s goo-e, as in gooey, you dumbasses. There’s chocolate, liquid chocolate. Gooey. Idiots!
Wow- who knew google would go into so much research or thought for something as simple as that! incredible
The stem is the same green as the “L” even… It’s interesting that you found a connection between Valentines and the word Googe but it’s quite clear they didn’t forget the “L” before even looking to Google’s explaination o_O
The “l” was the stem.
I think that line of poetry is from Thomas Ford, actually.
Googe = google spooge on valentines day, how appropriate.