The Stanford University team working on interweb search technology called their product “BackRub.” Later, wiser heads suggested if the goal was to provide enormous volumes of search results, the name ought to at least suggest hugeness beyond what we now think is vast. The math whizzes had the answer: googolplex, a number than can be written, but cannot be grasped. A googolplex starts with a 1 and is followed by 100 zeroes. The team opted for shortening it to Googol. When the domain name was available, they grabbed it. Except the searcher misspelled it as Google, soon to become a verb in common usage.
A Closer Look at Barney Google and His Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes
What does Barney Google have in common with Google other than the name?
Nothing. They’re not related. Barney Google was a comic strip character first drawn by in 1919 by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. The strip went viral and was published by more than 900 newspapers in 21 countries. Barney went on to star in the movies and on television. He and his goo-goo-googly eyes were featured in one of the most popular songs of the times, Barney Google, lyrics by Billy Rose (yes, Broadway Billy Rose!).
What about goo-goo eyes? What are they?
Goo-goo eyes describes an openly flirtatious expression. Think of puppy love teens making obvious eyes at each other. Their exaggerated eyes are open as wide as they can be, just as those of small children agog at fireworks shows.
And goggle-eyed? What does that mean?
Goggle-eyed means eyes wide open and bulging, usually in surprise, especially astonishment. And it’s been around since 1711. Can you make a case for Wall-E’s “eyes?”
Segar’s Popeye the Sailor Man first appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theater in 1929
He was so popular, Thimble Theater changed its name to Popeye the Sailor Man. Soon came Olive Oil, Swee’Pea, Wimpy, and archenemy Bluto, sometimes called Brutus. Two of the characters became fast food restaurants. One became a southern chicken chain, Popeyes, and the other, Wimpy, sold hamburgers. Wimpy went out of business when the founder died in 1977, but is still big in the UK and South Africa.
Popeye the Sailor got his name from his bulging eyes
E.C. (Elzie Crisler) Segar said he named his character Popeye because he was pop-eyed. But I found that one of Popeye’s eyes is always squinted shut and the other is drawn as not much more than a black dot, with nary a bulge. Perhaps E.C. should have named him Squint.
Segar said he based Popeye’s character on Rocky Fiegel, “one-eyed, pipe-smoking curmudgeon with a jutting chin.” Snopes.com says “The claim that Fiegel was the inspiration for ‘Popeye’ is largely accurate, but the picture commonly claimed to be of Fiegel is not.” Just one more of the inaccuracies found on the interweb.
Pop-eyed? What’s that?
How about eyes popping out of his head, like we’ve seen so many times in cartoons? It’s no coincidence that the pop-eyed character is almost always a male, and usually a wolf, the label for an aggressively amorous man who overtly pursues women for sex. Wolves are womanizers and skirt chasers, all since the days of the wolf-whistle, which is the term for a short whistle directed at physically and sexually attractive women.
How about eyes popping out of his head in real life?
Here’s one from The Mirror. It’s Liverpudlian John Doyle, YouTube sensation.
What are googly eyes today?
Googly eyes was adopted as the name for the plastic imitation eyeballs found online and in craft shops everywhere. They mimic the eyeball with black discs against white backgrounds inside a clear plastic shell. The black discs are not attached to the rest of the “eye” and roll freely within the shell, mimicking eye-rolling.
Artsy.net says, “These days, there are sprawling Pinterest boards and hosts of how-to videos on YouTube dedicated to googly-eye crafting.” I noticed that they’re now sometimes called wiggly eyes, which takes away some of the charm.
The Googly Eyes Foundation made it their mission to place the plastic eyes on objects in as many public spaces as possible. I went to their site and found it seems to have been abandoned So much for the mission.
The Keane Kids are definitely not googly-eyed
They’re not goggle-eyed and don’t make goo-goo eyes at others, either. The artist Margaret Keane claims her waif-like kids have soulful eyes. All of the Keane Kids in pictures I’ve seen have expressions that seem devoid of any emotion other than emptiness. They have none of the exaggerated expressions of amazement, astonishment, or surprise we know to be associated with googly eyes. As works of art, the Keane Kids rate right up there with Dogs Playing Poker and Elvis on black velvet.
Barney Google
Who’s the greatest lover that this country ever knew?
Who’s the man that Valentino takes his hat off to?
No, it isn’t Douglas Fairbanks that the ladies rave about;
When he arrives, who makes the wives chase all their husbands out?
Barney Google—with the goo-goo-googly eyes,
Barney Google—had a wife three times his size;
She sued Barney for divorce,
Now he’s sleeping with his horse!
Barney Google—with the goo-goo-googly eyes!
Double Bonus
Here’s an example of how trustworthy AISAs (Artificial Intelligence Search Agents) are. I was searching for <Popeye>. The AISA reported that after its exhaustive search of the entire interweb, the name Popeye comes from the character of Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, NYPD cop in the film The French Connection. When the film was made in 1971, Popeye the Sailor comics and cartoons had already been around for more than 40 years. Doyle’s character was based upon real NYPD cop Eddie Egan, whose real-life nickname was Popeye.
Popeye disease is also called bulging eye disease
It mostly affects fish in aquariums with poor water quality. Eye doctors describe the condition as exophthalmia, an abnormal protrusion of the eyeball.
