I also use DuckDuckGo for most searches, not because of the privacy aspect in the slightest, but because it produces more immediately useful results in most cases. The bangs are great for saving time. I even requested and after a while got given !ngram :-)

As you say, Google is just a !g away, and I do find myself still occasionally using that, but most of the time, DuckDuckGo's own search engine matches my requirements better.