Goodbye to Good Buy

It has been pointed out in some of the local blogs that the name of this possibly to-be-launched Google payment sounds *extremely* vulgar in Hokkien and Teochew.

A colleague commented with amusement that Google is practising censorhip for China, yet may unknowingly missed out on something as offensive as this.

I wonder how many hokkien/teochew-speaking people (Singapore, M'sia, all of Taiwan and a chunk of China) can bring themselves to tell people they want to pay or paid for their stuff with their ...er.. CxxT. I can imagine the men will be sniggering all the way, esp if it is conversation with a female over using this form of payment. Shudder.

Someone stop Google!

+++++++++NEWS+++++++++++++++++++++

..."That PayPal revenue may look like a big jar of chocolate chips to the Cookie Monsters at Google. Their rival system, called GBuy, has been getting a workout since the early part of 2005. The Journal cited a source briefed on the service:

For the last nine months, Google has recruited online retailers to test GBuy, according to one person briefed on the service. GBuy will feature an icon posted alongside the paid-search ads of merchants, which Google hopes will tempt consumers to click on the ads, says this person. GBuy will also let consumers store their credit-card information on Google.

Storing payment information has been an ease-of-use feature and strength of PayPal. Google has enough brand recognition to get a lot of attention. The Journal's report seems to suggest the way Google will get users on board will be through its GBuy retailers. But will eBay accept GBuy as a payment method? Probably, as long as eBay gets its cuts of a sale as is customary. "...