Updated Google has continued its tradition of offering themed logos on days of international import, and is currently sporting a Valentine's Day effort featuring a chocolate-dipped strawberry in place of the usual "g".

Tasty. However, in its enthusiasm for the annual festival of romance-based capitalism, it appears to have mislaid the all-important "l", thereby making today Saint Vaentine's Day.

So, where is exactly is the "L" for "Luuuurv"?. We suppose it's possible that the strawberry's stem might represent the missing letter, but we're not convinced. For the record, a quick search on Googe for "Googe" offered the predictable: "Did you mean: Google?. Well, yes, actuay. ®

Bootnote

A big ta very much to all those readers who wrote in to express their dismay at Googe's careessness. Here's one correspondent's analysis of where the "l" actually lives. Hmmmm:

Update

And now the word from the horse's mouth. One reader emailed Google to get to the bottom of this...

-----Original Message-----
From: W******, S*****
Sent: 14 February 2007 11:41
To: Laura Ainsworth
Subject: Google banner on Valentine's day

Dear Laura,

Hello there. I understand you are the Corporate Communications Co-ordinator for Google. Well, I have a question and I was hoping you could answer it for me. I am a frequent Google user, and I just clicked on to the site and noticed that your banner today (Valentine's day) is an image of a chocolate-covered strawberry.

Well, to me, it looks like it says Googe, not Google. I was a bit confused, so I showed it to some of my friends and colleagues, and they agreed with me. So I was wondering, was the stalk on the strawberry meant to be an L, or did somebody just forget it altogether? It's not very clear. I would really appreciate your feedback.

Best regards,

S*****

And the answer is...

From: Laura Ainsworth
Sent: 14 February 2007 12:11
To: W******, S*****
Subject: Re: Google banner on Valentine's day

You are right, the green stalk is indeed the 'L'.

This is a new and edgy design and i think it looks fab - i hope you agree

L

So now you know. As one wag rather cheesily put it: "They can't have lost the L because that would make it a Noel logo." Suffice it to say, he's been banned from reading El Reg for a month.

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