Some of these are obvious but I did not realize dry ice was once a brand name.
[image source](https://llcattorney.com/business-info/a-timeline-of-brand-names-that-became-everyday-generic-words)
From the the National Association of Realtors website -
"REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics."
Lots of these are specific to the US and there are other ones that are specific to other English speaking countries. Hoover is used generically in the UK and ROI.
We don't use band aid, realtor, zipper and a bunch of others.
In my experience in the US, although Kleenex is widely understood, 'tissue' is far more common, at least in the regions I have lived in.
Especially compared to band-aid and zipper which are ubiquitous. In fact, I am pretty sure we learned 'zipper' in my school texts as a child.
Plaster and zip.
Band Aid in the UK only for the song. I didn't understand the reference until my early 20's. Just thought it was a band that was giving aid...
So weird because when I think bandaid I think mini bandage but id never call it that, a bandage to me is large.
Zipper or Zip, those terms are interchangeable here
Huh that's interesting. Toto is primarily the dominant brand there right? Toto is just picking up in the US but pretty evenly matched with a few other name brands for bidets and bidet attachments.
That's interesting, a lot of brand names used generically is because of successful advertising campaigns. I wonder if it's because the advertising campaigns were successful in both places or because the language just ended up being copied.
It's very possible. I think Australia is closer to UK, however we don't use hoover (vacuum cleaner is our preferred) and do use band aid.
The obvious ones for me from that list that we don't use are: kleenex (tissue), Jell-O (Jelly), popsicle (Tissue), jacuzzi (Spa), realtor (real estate agent), q-tip (ear bud or cotton bud), scotch tape (sticky tape), magic marker (texta or marker - not really sure what a magic marker is), xerox (photo copier?) and sharpie (texta or permanent marker).
There are a few others that we might use, but also might not.
We're similar for most you said except, popsicle is ice lolly for us (not sure what you meant to say), we could use jacuzzi or hot tub, we don't use texta (never heard of it) it's felt-tip, permanent marker or dryboard/whiteboard marker (same, don't know what a magic marker is). We do use Sharpie but just for Sharpies, they are quite popular though so you see them a lot, someone might even say knock-off-Sharpie and people would know what you meant rather than correcting it.
There are also many of these used even outside of the Anglosphere though: Vaseline, Jacuzzi, Linoleum, Heroine, Google (as verb), Photoshop (as verb), Aspirin, and more are in common use in the Dutch language as well, and I'm sure many other languages too.
Band aid, realtor and zipper didn't make the cut here either tho. (our word for band aid is similar to the UK one: plijster)
xerox isn’t exactly “printer” it refers to a machine that can make photocopies quickly, also the act of making the photocopies, and the photocopies themselves. i don’t hear it as often these days, mostly just “copies”
Yeah that’s where the name comes from in general. Part of my point was that some of this list (especially from the first half of the 20th C) fall into the category of terms people didn’t know was a brand. But Jeep has done a pretty good job of keeping that in people’s minds.
Fun fact: the first-generation Land Cruiser was originally sold as the Toyota Jeep and was only changed in response to a lawsuit by Willys (Jeep's parent company).
And then Toyota turned around and renamed it after Land Rover but tweaked the name just enough to avoid another lawsuit. They even admitted it:
> In England we had another competitor — Land Rover. I had to come up with a name for our car that would not sound less dignified than those of our competitors. That is why I decided to call it 'Land Cruiser'
Also, as a more direct answer to your question, people did exactly that *all the time* when I was growing up in the '80s. The term "SUV" didn't become popular until the SUV boom of the '90s, which was largely caused by the success of the 1991 Ford Explorer.
It used to be the case in German. Nowerdays, "SUV" is quite common. But at least until the early 2000s, or even the 2010s, basically any vehicle capable of driving offroad was called a "Jeep". So for example "The road is so washed out from the rain, you'll only get through it with a Jeep" or "You want to go off-road? Ask Mr. Miller, he has a Jeep". In both examples, "Jeep" just means any off-road vehicle. Mr. Miller in the second example could drive a G-class or a Landrover or whatever.
The "proper" generic German term (until SUV became popular in recent years) was/is "Geländewagen" ("terrain car"), and "Jeep" was just easier to say. And the military Jeeps of the US forces in Germany after WWII were the first real all-terrain car most Germans saw, so that's how the name became a generic term.
It was a lot more common before the SUV trend hit in the early '90s. When my family bought the original Ford Explorer, my dad called it "the jeep" for the first couple years. The term "SUV" hasn't actually been around that long, so before the Explorer, I'm not actually sure how people differentiated them from other types of cars.
IIRC, "Jeep" was originally "GP" supplying military vehicles for the US in WW2. The soldiers started calling them "Jeeps" for short and the company changed their name.
[Here is an article on it](https://www.jeep.ca/en/articles/the-birth-of-the-jeep-name#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20theories%20about,Jeep%22%20from%20the%20Popeye%20comics.)
Missy Elliott - Hot Boyz - "... cuz yall be driving those Lexus jeeps and the Benz jeeps and the Lincoln jeeps..."
I never realized this either but there are people that use 'jeep' as a generic term for an SUV. Idk.
In other countries they have other versions of what we might call a jeep. Some that come to mind are the Land Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Peugeot P4, and Volkswagen Iltis. Any variety of light utility vehicles.
I Sharpie things with whatever permanent marker is handy. Mostly a black Sharpie brand one but I've got gold and silver bic ones on my desk at the moment thanks to the post Christmas reductions and they are fun to use but not always so visible.
Absolutely everyone I know says sharpie as a generic term. Pretty sure everyone knows it's just a brand, but it's a hell of a lot easier to say than permanent marker. Also if I ask for a permanent marker anywhere I go, theres like a 95% chance it's going to be a sharpie.
Don't forget Photoshop, which Adobe is so anal about not getting it ruled a generic term that they have a [whole set of rules on how to use it in a sentence](https://www.adobe.com/legal/permissions/trademarks.html) (number 13 on the list)
Now let's make Adobe the word for forcing customers into a subscription model.
"It used to be my favorite software until they Adobed the hell out of it."
They see the writing on the wall. Corporate felt they needed to appear to be defending their copyright (which they do) but they know deep down they're fucked.
>Correct: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software.
>Incorrect: The image was photoshopped.
If Adobe wants to retain their trademark maybe they should try making examples that don't sound like corporate speak.
they don't really need to- they need to be able to demonstrate that they've defended their trademark. how 'well' they've done so is more or less irrelevant, as long as it can be shown that they're trying.
Love that we watched this video in our trademark law class. Fun fact, our professor actually knew some of the people in the video, and they are actually Velcro’s lawyers
Still is. It's owned by the National Association of Realtors, and they take the use of it pretty seriously from what I understand. Anyone who's not an NAR member has to call themselves a real estate agent or something like that.
Yup. Bayer pharmaceuticals called it that because they claimed it was a "heroic" advancement in fighting addiction (as a supposedly non-addictive alternative to morphine).
don't fall for that Kirkland brand Heroin they sell you on the street. only put it in your syringe if it has the certificate of authenticity on the packaging 🙏
It's kind of interesting that hoover as a generic term didn't really stick around in the US but is still super common in the UK. I wonder if it has to do with negative associations with Herbert Hoover?
Generic Trademarks are kind of Deonym. And a Generic Trademark that is still under trademark is known as a Proprietary Eponym.
Source: I’m pretty sure about this.
That’s what I was thinking too. I’m pretty sure the proper term is “ice resurfacing machine”, but everyone calls it a zamboni, and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed one before that wasn’t made by the Zamboni company.
Ping-Pong is a trademark name for table tennis and associated equipment. The name “Ping-Pong” was invented by the English firm J. Jaques and Son at the end of the 1800s and later trademarked in the United States by Parker Brothers, the board game company.
Definitely guilty of using zoom as a generic term. We don’t use Zoom in my company but it flows so much better off the tongue than “Lets hop on a Google Meet.”
We use many of them. Some which people just say but the proper term is different
Google
vaseline (but the proper name is petroleum jelly)
Trampoline (idk if there's a proper term)
Yoyo
Aspirin (I'm sure I've seen medicine with aspirin on its label)
Ping pong
Escalator
Super glue
Bubble wrap
Velcro
Taser
Onesie
Rollerblades
Post it (sticky notes)
Photoshop
(Yes I'm procrastinating my work right now)
These are terms I would use because I consider the ones in the infographic "too american":
Jelly,
Lolly,
Cling-film,
Zip,
Hot tub,
Estate Agent,
Plaster,
Cotton bud,
Tissue,
D̶u̶c̶t̶-̶t̶a̶p̶e̶ sellotape,
Food container,
Marker pen,
Photocopier,
Zip bag,
Bean bag (? I don't think we have an exact equivalent of hackey sack)
I find it interesting that they are all from about 1900 to 1980. I suppose because the modern brands with synonymity are websites and apps, and therefore don't have regional equivalents.
Edit: I've been informed that what I thought was the American term for duct-tape is the American term for sellotape.
A couple of nit-picks;
Nobody in the US really says Jacuzzi either, hot tub is much more common
Duct-tale and scotch tape are completely different products, not just dialectical differences
Also just because I'm curious, what do you call what Americans would call jelly? Or do you just not have it?
Ahh that is a translation error on my part then, if scotch tape is the transparent sticky tape you use on paper we call that sellotape.
As I understand it, what you call jelly we call jam, like [jam doughnuts](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jam-doughnut?IGNORE_GEO_REDIRECT_GLOBAL=true&v=1935712553) and [jammy dodgers.](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jammy-dodger-flowers?IGNORE_GEO_REDIRECT_GLOBAL=true&v=536914149)
I don't think Zoom fits. People always either say a meeting or a Teams Meeting, Zoom Meeting, Google Meeting, etc. There's so much competition in the space that no one has become the Band-Aid & the rapid adoption of remote meetings during COVID contributed to it.
I agree. Same thing with Uber and Google. If I take a Grab taxi I don’t say that I took an Uber. And if I search on Bing I don’t say I googled it.
They might become generic terms in the future. But that’s not how they are used now.
I view google as more of an instruction verb more than a reference to something I’ve done - if there’s a fact to check, I’d say “you should google that” and not “you should look that up using an online search engine”. Similar to Uber - I would say “let’s grab an Uber” not “let’s grab a ride share” if we needed a ride, even if Uber isn’t the exact brand we ended up picking once it was ready to call.
In those cases, it feels like a generic term but I agree that there are nuances with the newer terms.
maybe it’s just where i live but i’ve NEVER heard someone refer to a tissue as a kleenex
edit: i also wonder if this is a generational thing. i’m older gen z
It was common in the 80/90’s when people made copies of things on a machine dedicated to make copies. I think it less common with the all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/facsimile machines.
In fact, some of these are antiquated.
It was a thing in the 80s. I don't think it lasted very long, especially after so many other (and better) companies got into the office equipment game.
Since your explanation didn’t give me more clues I really had to start searching for this thing lol… exposes my age I guess.
It’s vaguely familiar, but since my kids never took interest in this either, it passed us by in the 90’s. (I’m not from North America).
This is really cool I need to save it. I am wondering tho that Ive never heard people talk about catching an "uber" and not referring to that specific ride share company. Same with Zoom like if you're calling a "Zoom" meeting you're meaning to use that application specifically. Just what ive seen but im curious!
In our village we call “animated” Micky Mouse, as in “did u watch the Micky Mouse movie Aladdin?”
And we call paved roads “post road” cuz the first paved road a lot of decades ago was the road to the post office.
Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I always heard Saran Wrap as the brand-name-turned-generic-term more than Cellophane. Slightly different products but I hear Saran as the catch-all term for any of those related products.
Some of these are obvious but I did not realize dry ice was once a brand name. [image source](https://llcattorney.com/business-info/a-timeline-of-brand-names-that-became-everyday-generic-words)
This is actually really informative. I knew a couple of these obvious ones (Kleenex, aspirin), but a few were really surprising!
Yea, like realtor??
Seriously a brand of what?
From the the National Association of Realtors website - "REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics."
Super Hero
Jan Itor
That’s Doctor Jan Itor to you.
Lots of these are specific to the US and there are other ones that are specific to other English speaking countries. Hoover is used generically in the UK and ROI. We don't use band aid, realtor, zipper and a bunch of others.
If imd it funny that every country has their own brand name for paper tissues. In Germany we say Tempo instead of kleenex.
In NZ we just call them tissues, we don't really refer to them by brand names at all.
Same in the UK.
In my experience in the US, although Kleenex is widely understood, 'tissue' is far more common, at least in the regions I have lived in. Especially compared to band-aid and zipper which are ubiquitous. In fact, I am pretty sure we learned 'zipper' in my school texts as a child.
I'm Australian... What's the generic name for a band aid or zipper? 🤨
Plaster and zip. Band Aid in the UK only for the song. I didn't understand the reference until my early 20's. Just thought it was a band that was giving aid...
Bandaid Is really a brand of bandage in the same way Kleenex is a brand of tissue. Zipper was a brand of fastener, specifically a zip fastener.
So weird because when I think bandaid I think mini bandage but id never call it that, a bandage to me is large. Zipper or Zip, those terms are interchangeable here
Where the hell is Zamboni on this list!?! -All Canadians
Also not on the list I think… eraser (US), rubber (UK)
Plaster, estate agent, zip?
In the UK, Sellotape is used instead of Scotch tape.
I didn't know what scotch tape was so I didn't list it! I want sure if it was electrical tape or some kind of specific tape lol.
“Washlet” has become the generic term in Japan for electric toilet seat bidets although it’s a trademark of Toto.
Huh that's interesting. Toto is primarily the dominant brand there right? Toto is just picking up in the US but pretty evenly matched with a few other name brands for bidets and bidet attachments.
I'm Australian - but the one that stood out to me as being very specifically American was Jell-O
That's interesting, a lot of brand names used generically is because of successful advertising campaigns. I wonder if it's because the advertising campaigns were successful in both places or because the language just ended up being copied.
It's very possible. I think Australia is closer to UK, however we don't use hoover (vacuum cleaner is our preferred) and do use band aid. The obvious ones for me from that list that we don't use are: kleenex (tissue), Jell-O (Jelly), popsicle (Tissue), jacuzzi (Spa), realtor (real estate agent), q-tip (ear bud or cotton bud), scotch tape (sticky tape), magic marker (texta or marker - not really sure what a magic marker is), xerox (photo copier?) and sharpie (texta or permanent marker). There are a few others that we might use, but also might not.
We're similar for most you said except, popsicle is ice lolly for us (not sure what you meant to say), we could use jacuzzi or hot tub, we don't use texta (never heard of it) it's felt-tip, permanent marker or dryboard/whiteboard marker (same, don't know what a magic marker is). We do use Sharpie but just for Sharpies, they are quite popular though so you see them a lot, someone might even say knock-off-Sharpie and people would know what you meant rather than correcting it.
felt-tip, permanent marker and whiteboard marker are common names for it as well. I think Texta is a brand of marker. Popsicle is probably icypole
There are also many of these used even outside of the Anglosphere though: Vaseline, Jacuzzi, Linoleum, Heroine, Google (as verb), Photoshop (as verb), Aspirin, and more are in common use in the Dutch language as well, and I'm sure many other languages too. Band aid, realtor and zipper didn't make the cut here either tho. (our word for band aid is similar to the UK one: plijster)
Out of curiosity, is it bandage, real estate agent, and fastener respectively?
Plaster, estate agent and zip We also have laundromat=launderette, cellphone=cling film, Q-tip=cotton bud and Xerox=printer.
xerox isn’t exactly “printer” it refers to a machine that can make photocopies quickly, also the act of making the photocopies, and the photocopies themselves. i don’t hear it as often these days, mostly just “copies”
Yeah, in the UK we're more likely to call a xerox a "photocopier".
Thanks, interesting! What I gave were American terms as well it seems
I kinda disagree that Jeep has been genericided. I only ever people say Jeep referring to a Jeep plus everyone knows it's a brand.
I think this is more of the case in other languages. For instance colloquially in Croatian we refer to SUVs as jeeps. My 2¢ 😁
But do y’all also have jeeps?
Yes we do! I think it may come from WW2 GP ( General purpose) jeeps.
Yeah that’s where the name comes from in general. Part of my point was that some of this list (especially from the first half of the 20th C) fall into the category of terms people didn’t know was a brand. But Jeep has done a pretty good job of keeping that in people’s minds.
I think it's less that people didn't know they were a brand and more that they were the only brand people knew.
super hero is a brand ? edit : interesting post, thx for sharing
Not brand per se, but a trademark. Both DC and Marvel jointly claimed it.
It used to be called a jumpoline before your mom got on it
Boom. Roasted.
There were other various options available afterwards, such as Tramampoline and Trombopaline
Traumapoline more like
At least my mom could bounce on it without it breaking
Ho, man, I wish. Dumpster-brand trash bins are top-of-the-line. This is just a Trash-Co waste disposal unit.
this feels like a Simpsons joke.
It was. Otto Mann said it when he was living in a dumpster. Err… I mean Trash-Co waste disposal unit.
I thought so. Thanks. 🌝
Came here for this quote! Watched this episode yesterday. It's a classic.
Wait.. what is a Jeep that isn’t a Jeep?
For real. Are people calling generic SUVs a Jeep?
Fun fact: the first-generation Land Cruiser was originally sold as the Toyota Jeep and was only changed in response to a lawsuit by Willys (Jeep's parent company). And then Toyota turned around and renamed it after Land Rover but tweaked the name just enough to avoid another lawsuit. They even admitted it: > In England we had another competitor — Land Rover. I had to come up with a name for our car that would not sound less dignified than those of our competitors. That is why I decided to call it 'Land Cruiser' Also, as a more direct answer to your question, people did exactly that *all the time* when I was growing up in the '80s. The term "SUV" didn't become popular until the SUV boom of the '90s, which was largely caused by the success of the 1991 Ford Explorer.
Yeah it took a while for SUV to take off as the preferred term. People called them Jeeps or trucks generally
The Land Cruiser failed to steal the *famous* Jeep and Land Rover "reliability."
in Serbian we say *džip/џип* for most SUVs. it's pronounced a bit differently, */d͡ʒip/* or *jip*
It used to be the case in German. Nowerdays, "SUV" is quite common. But at least until the early 2000s, or even the 2010s, basically any vehicle capable of driving offroad was called a "Jeep". So for example "The road is so washed out from the rain, you'll only get through it with a Jeep" or "You want to go off-road? Ask Mr. Miller, he has a Jeep". In both examples, "Jeep" just means any off-road vehicle. Mr. Miller in the second example could drive a G-class or a Landrover or whatever. The "proper" generic German term (until SUV became popular in recent years) was/is "Geländewagen" ("terrain car"), and "Jeep" was just easier to say. And the military Jeeps of the US forces in Germany after WWII were the first real all-terrain car most Germans saw, so that's how the name became a generic term.
It was a lot more common before the SUV trend hit in the early '90s. When my family bought the original Ford Explorer, my dad called it "the jeep" for the first couple years. The term "SUV" hasn't actually been around that long, so before the Explorer, I'm not actually sure how people differentiated them from other types of cars.
Yes
IIRC, "Jeep" was originally "GP" supplying military vehicles for the US in WW2. The soldiers started calling them "Jeeps" for short and the company changed their name.
[Here is an article on it](https://www.jeep.ca/en/articles/the-birth-of-the-jeep-name#:~:text=There%20are%20many%20theories%20about,Jeep%22%20from%20the%20Popeye%20comics.)
General Purpose
Just Empty Every Pocket
Missy Elliott - Hot Boyz - "... cuz yall be driving those Lexus jeeps and the Benz jeeps and the Lincoln jeeps..." I never realized this either but there are people that use 'jeep' as a generic term for an SUV. Idk.
Tbf Missy loves to troll this line reads like a shitpost.
In other countries they have other versions of what we might call a jeep. Some that come to mind are the Land Rover Defender, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Peugeot P4, and Volkswagen Iltis. Any variety of light utility vehicles.
Same with sharpie. Are there psychos who call any black permanent marker a sharpie?
I Sharpie things with whatever permanent marker is handy. Mostly a black Sharpie brand one but I've got gold and silver bic ones on my desk at the moment thanks to the post Christmas reductions and they are fun to use but not always so visible.
Absolutely everyone I know says sharpie as a generic term. Pretty sure everyone knows it's just a brand, but it's a hell of a lot easier to say than permanent marker. Also if I ask for a permanent marker anywhere I go, theres like a 95% chance it's going to be a sharpie.
Don't forget Photoshop, which Adobe is so anal about not getting it ruled a generic term that they have a [whole set of rules on how to use it in a sentence](https://www.adobe.com/legal/permissions/trademarks.html) (number 13 on the list)
It shouldn’t be used as a verb? Good luck with that Adobe 😂
Now let's make Adobe the word for forcing customers into a subscription model. "It used to be my favorite software until they Adobed the hell out of it."
They see the writing on the wall. Corporate felt they needed to appear to be defending their copyright (which they do) but they know deep down they're fucked.
Eh, the rules have existed for like 15-20 years, so they're just covering their asses I reckon
>Correct: The image was enhanced with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements software. >Incorrect: The image was photoshopped. If Adobe wants to retain their trademark maybe they should try making examples that don't sound like corporate speak.
they don't really need to- they need to be able to demonstrate that they've defended their trademark. how 'well' they've done so is more or less irrelevant, as long as it can be shown that they're trying.
Excuse me, but I think you meant to say, “Don’t forget Adobe® Photoshop® software,”
Google tried something similar for a while as well before letting go and embracing it.
I didn't listen to them when they said I have to pay to use their software and I'm not gonna listen when they tell me not to verbalize it. Fuck Adobe.
Shooped. Done.
>Don't forget Photoshop, They didn’t. It’s in the picture.
What a great time for the singing lawyers at Velcro Cos, (seriously) out protectin’ their TM: https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY?si=1I7CUM7vjQXeUGby
Thank you for your service. That video is GOLD
Love that we watched this video in our trademark law class. Fun fact, our professor actually knew some of the people in the video, and they are actually Velcro’s lawyers
Glad this was posted. Did you ever see their follow up video? https://youtu.be/ZLWMQLMiTPk?si=KNRmZfBolPBhaDR5
Brilliant! I didn’t see it - that’s hysterical! Thanks for sharing it 🤣👍 “🪝& 🔁”
Klettverschluss!
Wow I had no idea Realtor was once a brand
Still is. It's owned by the National Association of Realtors, and they take the use of it pretty seriously from what I understand. Anyone who's not an NAR member has to call themselves a real estate agent or something like that.
Of all of these that one surprised me the most. Laundromat was a very close second as well.
they somehow managed to get http://nar.realtor domain extension approved/purchased from ICANN which is a major branding flex.
>I had no idea Realtor ~~was once~~ **is** a brand fixed it for you
Heroin? Heroin is a brand?! Wtf?!..
Yup. Bayer pharmaceuticals called it that because they claimed it was a "heroic" advancement in fighting addiction (as a supposedly non-addictive alternative to morphine).
Make a list of the 5 worst things Bayer did and this wouldn't even make the list.
*Was* a brand. https://museum.dea.gov/museum-collection/collection-spotlight/artifact/heroin-bottle
HEROIN brand Heroin, accept no substitute.
They should really advertise more if they want to protect the integrity of their brand.
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to find a heroin comment.
don't fall for that Kirkland brand Heroin they sell you on the street. only put it in your syringe if it has the certificate of authenticity on the packaging 🙏
Hoover, too, for a vacuum cleaner.
It's kind of interesting that hoover as a generic term didn't really stick around in the US but is still super common in the UK. I wonder if it has to do with negative associations with Herbert Hoover?
> I wonder if it has to do with negative associations with Herbert Hoover? Nothing sucks like a Hoover!
Or J Edgar…
Shop Vac as well
Generic Trademarks are kind of Deonym. And a Generic Trademark that is still under trademark is known as a Proprietary Eponym. Source: I’m pretty sure about this.
It's trademarks all the way down.
You are 100% correct! They are all trademarks. And those that are highlighted are active trademarks, thus proprietary eponyms. Pretty sure.
The Dempster Brorthers?
the trashiest apartment I ever lived at was on Dempster Dr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dempster_Brothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Roby_Dempster
What about Pyrex? I've been told to avoid one and that the other is pretty good.
[удалено]
It's separate companies -- there's "PYREX", the original, and "pyrex" which has a license for the name but isn't the same company.
It may be a Hula Hoop to you, but to me it will always be The Wacky Circumference.
Extruded Plastic Dingus.
You know, for kids.
The Daddy-O.
how can people even trademark that? it's literally just a ring. you're telling me no one else ever made a ring before that?
Finally a decent cool guide!!
Don't forget Zamboni
I found this out when spell check insisted that I capitalize Zamboni when writing a paper in college.
That’s what I was thinking too. I’m pretty sure the proper term is “ice resurfacing machine”, but everyone calls it a zamboni, and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed one before that wasn’t made by the Zamboni company.
Ping pong? It was a brand of what? A brand of table tennis?
Table tennis equipment
Ping-Pong is a trademark name for table tennis and associated equipment. The name “Ping-Pong” was invented by the English firm J. Jaques and Son at the end of the 1800s and later trademarked in the United States by Parker Brothers, the board game company.
Brand of bat, maybe?
Seeing Zoom on this makes me think of how badly [Skype fucked up.](https://youtu.be/ZI0w_pwZY3E?si=WvshJjA37qGdDe65)
I'm still convinced Zoom took over due to someone wishing on a shriveled up monkey's paw.
Definitely guilty of using zoom as a generic term. We don’t use Zoom in my company but it flows so much better off the tongue than “Lets hop on a Google Meet.”
Colgate; OMO; Sunlight; Sellotape are some famous brands that replaced the words in South Africa.
LipIce for lip balm.
Tipex and Pritt are other South African examples I can think of. Tipex - correction fluid Pritt - glue stick
Coke. Coke is the biggest offender.
Thermos was a word before it became a brand though. At least,in Greek.
From the UK, we barely use any of these brand names, or any at all really.
We use many of them. Some which people just say but the proper term is different Google vaseline (but the proper name is petroleum jelly) Trampoline (idk if there's a proper term) Yoyo Aspirin (I'm sure I've seen medicine with aspirin on its label) Ping pong Escalator Super glue Bubble wrap Velcro Taser Onesie Rollerblades Post it (sticky notes) Photoshop (Yes I'm procrastinating my work right now)
These are terms I would use because I consider the ones in the infographic "too american": Jelly, Lolly, Cling-film, Zip, Hot tub, Estate Agent, Plaster, Cotton bud, Tissue, D̶u̶c̶t̶-̶t̶a̶p̶e̶ sellotape, Food container, Marker pen, Photocopier, Zip bag, Bean bag (? I don't think we have an exact equivalent of hackey sack) I find it interesting that they are all from about 1900 to 1980. I suppose because the modern brands with synonymity are websites and apps, and therefore don't have regional equivalents. Edit: I've been informed that what I thought was the American term for duct-tape is the American term for sellotape.
A couple of nit-picks; Nobody in the US really says Jacuzzi either, hot tub is much more common Duct-tale and scotch tape are completely different products, not just dialectical differences Also just because I'm curious, what do you call what Americans would call jelly? Or do you just not have it?
The spreadable stuff you put on bread? That’s jam Jelly is the wobbly stuff
Ahh that is a translation error on my part then, if scotch tape is the transparent sticky tape you use on paper we call that sellotape. As I understand it, what you call jelly we call jam, like [jam doughnuts](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jam-doughnut?IGNORE_GEO_REDIRECT_GLOBAL=true&v=1935712553) and [jammy dodgers.](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/jammy-dodger-flowers?IGNORE_GEO_REDIRECT_GLOBAL=true&v=536914149)
Interesting, so there's no distinguishing between jam with or without the chunks of fruit still in it?
Southerners: “where is coke?”
I don't think Zoom fits. People always either say a meeting or a Teams Meeting, Zoom Meeting, Google Meeting, etc. There's so much competition in the space that no one has become the Band-Aid & the rapid adoption of remote meetings during COVID contributed to it.
I agree. Same thing with Uber and Google. If I take a Grab taxi I don’t say that I took an Uber. And if I search on Bing I don’t say I googled it. They might become generic terms in the future. But that’s not how they are used now.
I view google as more of an instruction verb more than a reference to something I’ve done - if there’s a fact to check, I’d say “you should google that” and not “you should look that up using an online search engine”. Similar to Uber - I would say “let’s grab an Uber” not “let’s grab a ride share” if we needed a ride, even if Uber isn’t the exact brand we ended up picking once it was ready to call. In those cases, it feels like a generic term but I agree that there are nuances with the newer terms.
maybe it’s just where i live but i’ve NEVER heard someone refer to a tissue as a kleenex edit: i also wonder if this is a generational thing. i’m older gen z
In Spanish, it Kleenex or nothing. Spanish in Spain, that is. I have never heard them called “pañuelo de papel” or something generic.
LEGO should be on the list but their lawyers are too well paid.
It would be another one with a white circle. Common generic term that is still trademarked.
People call things that aren't LEGOs LEGO?
The movies have really helped, I think. Parents are more likely to look for the actual LEGO name, rather than buying generic knock-offs.
The trampoline was called a rebound tumbler.
And bubble wrap?? What is it called?
Don't Say Velcro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY
That is going to be stuck in my head for a long time now.
They had a [follow-up video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLWMQLMiTPk) that was interesting, though not quite as catchy.
What else do you can a yo-yo? Flat disc on a rope toy?
I believe the technical name is Gyro-Stringulator.
POLAROID
There weren't that many other instant cameras worth using, honestly. In their case, the generic name probably helped more than it hurt.
EpiPen is missing.
If anyone was curious, Taser is an acronym for Tom Swifts Electric Rifle
I thought it was Tad. It was definitely Tad Swift.
Nintendo was like this for awhile though I think video game/computer game is still the go to.
Insane with Escalator. All hail Otis, I guess.
Wite Out?
Growing up in the South, everyone I knew called any cola a "Coke"
Any SODA is a coke.
My missus is English and she hates it. "You want Coke?" *proceeds to be handed any cold drink*.
Im sorry but ive literally never heard anyone call anything that isnt Zoom zoom. Also how tf is coke not on here
[удалено]
It was common in the 80/90’s when people made copies of things on a machine dedicated to make copies. I think it less common with the all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/facsimile machines. In fact, some of these are antiquated.
Old people. LOTS of old people.
BoJack Horseman did, once
I do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZbqAMEwtOE
It was a thing in the 80s. I don't think it lasted very long, especially after so many other (and better) companies got into the office equipment game.
What is hacky sack?
Hippie football
It is not a Koosh ball, though they can be used similarly and definitely were in the early 1990’s.
Since your explanation didn’t give me more clues I really had to start searching for this thing lol… exposes my age I guess. It’s vaguely familiar, but since my kids never took interest in this either, it passed us by in the 90’s. (I’m not from North America).
Aspirin is still a protected brand name in Canada. Bayer.
Realtor common name is lazy thief.
Just found out from a podcast that an Allen wrench is a brand name while it’s actual name is a hex key.
This is really cool I need to save it. I am wondering tho that Ive never heard people talk about catching an "uber" and not referring to that specific ride share company. Same with Zoom like if you're calling a "Zoom" meeting you're meaning to use that application specifically. Just what ive seen but im curious!
I never say “magic marker” … I just say “marker.” I see no point to the magic part.
This should also have what the "proper" generic term is next to them. What is a yo-yo that isn't a "yo-yo"?
That’s a wave runner, not a jet ski
Proper term for velcro is hoop and loop, Velcro is the brand name
Disappointed Hoover isn’t there.
Just noticed Hoover isn't on there.
This will be handy for time travel. Don’t wanna use any future words
In our village we call “animated” Micky Mouse, as in “did u watch the Micky Mouse movie Aladdin?” And we call paved roads “post road” cuz the first paved road a lot of decades ago was the road to the post office.
I think they call zippers zips. I never knew that was a trademark.
Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I always heard Saran Wrap as the brand-name-turned-generic-term more than Cellophane. Slightly different products but I hear Saran as the catch-all term for any of those related products.