brand names that have become everyday nouns
kelly | 24 August 2006 - 8:13pm
I know I haven't yet posted the story behind the #6 mystery photo. I haven't forgotten. But I've needed to be quiet this week. (Just realized that a year ago I was feeling similarly. How odd.)
Here's the latest word game listy thing I've been mulling: brand names that have become everyday words. A brand name qualifies if it is often (or always) used as the noun for a particular type of product no matter what the actual brand is. For example, my grandmother always says "Pass a kleenex" when she wants a tissue.
Kleenex
Saran Wrap
Xerox (also used as a verb)
Post-it
Wite-Out
CrockPot
Jacuzzi
Band-Aid
Zip-Loc
ChapStick
Vaseline1
Aspirin (has a whole story behind it)
Davenport2 (grandparents' generation)
Tupperware (Maybe this is just a Redneck Valley thing, but here all plastic kitchen containers are called Tupperware.)
1Courtesy of Doreen
2Courtesy of Rob3
3Taught me how to do footnotes in html!
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Wow, apparently there's actually a term for this: genericized trademark. Awesome.
Saran Wrap isn't a brand in Australia and whenever I use that term people have no idea what I'm talking about. They've still done the same thing using "Glad Wrap" instead.
I hope you're doing ok. Hugs to you.
not only is it a "genericized trademark", apparently Xerox in the past and Google most recently, have been able to sue against this happening, because it "devalues the worth of the brand".
who'd a thunk it?
i didn't know jacuzzi was a brand name. another one: scotch tape.
oh, and windex
gora, I am totally jealous of you thinking of scotch tape. Pure brilliance. And Windex is a really good one, too.
Any type of bathroom spray is Lysol.
Oh, and my grandma used to Hoover the rug with a non-Hoover brand vacuum.
Tupperware is not just a Redneck Valley thing because we use that as well. There are some regionalized name brand generic phrases but I can't think of thewm off the top of my head.
I LOVE these!
Here's some more:
Q-tip
Coke (In this part of the country, any soda is a Coke.)
Germ-X (Everyone I know says Germ-X to refer to any kind of antibacterial hand gel.)
Clorox
I'll probably come up with more later, but that's a start.
Okay, here's some toy ones:
Frisbee
Slinky
Boomerang
This is my favorite Word Nerd game yet. (Can you tell?)
Ah, Ladybug beat me to Frisbee!
Yo-yo, maybe?
I don't call all pop "coke", but I do call all cola "coke"...even though I prefer Pepsi when I drink cola! And all lemon-lime is Sprite to me, whether it's that, 7-up, or Sierra Mist.
I think Tylenol will eventually fit this too, if it doesn't already.
Hello! Crayonz.
I like this game.
Oh yeah, I'd thought of Q-tip, LadyBug, but I forgot to write it down. That's the trouble with this game...by the time I get around to jotting stuff down, I've forgotten half of what I came up with. But I hadn't even considered the toy category..lots of good ones there!
Thanks to all of you for contributing to the list. You guys are so smart.
dang, i didn't think of q-tips. also, i think CD, DVD and VHS might also count. and Levi's and jeans, Pampers and diapers, are used interchangably.
oh, and sharpie.
this is too much fun =D
First of all, I want to learn how the hell you do footnotes in html! Because KICKS ASS!
B of all, my grandma still calls any sofa a "davenport" which I have always just LOVED and have adopted as my own little quirky way to invite friends to have a seat. But I say it, "Won't you have a seat on my daaaaah-ven-poooht" in a very snooty British accent, and then I laugh and point when they get all confused and whatnot.
Wait. We've established that I am a dork, right? Yes? Okay, just so we're clear.
Oh! and TiVo! You kow, instead of DVR? or TiFaux?
Did I play? Did I do it right?
Oooh. This is good.
Thermos
Starbucks (counts for all fancy coffees now in a way)
Can't think of anything else...
Oh! I love the footnotes! I can't wait to use them instead of a * next time.
What about Dustbuster? (compliments of Kirk)
Google and FedEx (especially when used as a verb, like Xerox)
(I just read these in Readers Digest, not exactly in this context, but it jogged my memory!)
Wow--I have so much Tupperware, and I don't think I own even one real "Tupperware" container!
In Canada, we have another one. People often go on their breaks for a "Timmies" meaning a coffee....at Tim Horton's....
Also KY jelly....no other names for it...
;)
effie you naughty thing!:)
I wish they would do a word nerd thing of famous actors that you don't know their real name, just the most famous role they played,
Like "LaBamba's brother"
or
"the Freddy Kreuger guy".
You funny girl. Tupperware is universal and we've got a whole shelf dedicated to the stuff but it probably isn't even really tupperware.
::twitch, twitchtwitch::
a-hmm, now where was i? oh yes. fritos, doritos, cheetos, and oreos (i had NO IDEA there were other brands of oreos! who knew?!). icee.
yes, i'm hungry. what of it?!
Damn, I feel all cool...I have one no one said yet.
Google- as a verb
"Oh,'satillo tile'? Just google it and you can see the pictures of what it looks like."
Not everyone uses Google as their search engine yet this appears to be a commonly accepted and understood word in conversation.
Slurpee.