From Brand Name To Common Name 3

[Dimandja]

These are some highlights extracted from another thread that inspired this one.

Xerox has come to be a word in English through sheer market strength of the company bearing its name. Even though the company doesn't dominate the copier business anymore, I think the word will remain for a while. Other words that come from brand names:

Magic Marker - This company actually went out of business several years ago, but I still use the word to describe permanent markers such a Sharpie (The heir apparent that might misplace the 'word' Magic Marker)
Palm - As in Palm Pilot. People often refer to PDAs in general as 'Palm's
Q-Tip - Perhaps the best example - in the US, anyway.
Hoover - Especially used in the UK (from my admittedly limited American knowledge)
I don't think Kodak has ever quite achieved the same status. I wouldn't us Kodak as a verb, but I have heard others do it.

I think this could be a lengthy thread unto itself.

John

For me, the ultimate trademarked word to become a common noun is "Aspirin".

The Bayer corporation coined and trademarked Aspirin in 1899 as the name for its acetylsalicylic acid product.

Bayer had the trademark for the word taken from it at the end of World War I. Another company, Sterling, Inc., bought the trademark from the U.S. government in 1918. By that time, many manufacturers were flooding the market, and the U.S. Federal courts ruled in 1921 that the word was a generic mark and thus unprotected. Aspirin is still a trademark in many countries, though.

I have a few examples of trademarks becoming common nouns in my native Russian. A commonly used name for all markers and felt-tip pens now is flomaster. And all disposable diapers are called pampers, where pampers is singular form, even though there is a native word for diapers - meaning more and more often only cloth diapers now.

And common name for any instant camera is Polaroid - I don't think it is still the only one?

And, of course, aspirin and xerox. An absolutely official word now for a photocopy is xerocopy (pronounced more like kserocopia - I believe it to be closer to the original greek word)

Stella

 

[sleipnir214]

stella740pl:
To the best of my knowledge, Greek has never used X (chi) to represent "ks". This site says it's always been used as a k-like sound.

It may be that the Russians are disambiguating the sound that "x" represents in words like xorosho.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[Dimandja]

xorosho? Do you mean chorosho?

 

[sleipnir214]

That's a possible spelling in English.

As I recall, though, the Russian is spelled with an "x".


Want the best answers? Ask the best questions!

TANSTAAFL!!

 

[Dimandja]

At least in the Third World, brand names usually go common almost instantly. I think this is because the products have no local equivalent and there is usually only one manufacturer represented.

 

[Stella740pl]

sleipnir214,

First, I am not sure that the Greek word for "dry" used "X" (chi) for first letter.

Second, if it's not "KS", it sure doesn't sound "Z", as you pronounce it in English, any way. Probably, in Russian it was pronounced the way Latin/English "X" is pronounced in the middle/end of the word - the way the second "X" sound in "xerox".

And third, Russian word for xerocopy has neither Latin "X" nor Cyrillic letter "X", it has two letters, corresponding to "KS", not "Z" or "CH". It's just that I cannot really reproduce Russian or Greek letters here.

 

[ESquared]

You can use TGML to get Greek and you can paste Greek and Cyrillic unicode in just fine. The TGML is identical to pasting it in.

Greek
??G????T?????????S??F??O

Cyrillic
??????????????????????????????????????????????

-------------------------------------
A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[Stella740pl]

ESquared,

As I noted in the other thread where this discussion started, your Cyrillic appears as a long row of question marks, no matter what encoding I use. And I cannot post letter by letter in any language, I need to work and to take care of my family once in a while, too.
I got to note that at least your Greek looked OK in that thread, in this one it doesn't look that good either.

 

[ESquared]

Obviously, TGML works but pasting unicode doesn't, no matter what the preview looks like!

I bet the database behind tek-tips is not unicode, but the preview code is.

-------------------------------------
A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[entaroadun]

It is true that brand names go common quickly in countries with less economic influence. This holds true in postindustrial countries, though. The real difference is in the way the trademark is protected. Laws in many countries, particularly socialist ones with nationalized industries, favor domestic state-owned companies over foreign brands. Therefore, the trademark is lost. Even if the local copyright law is strong, the company may not bother protecting the copyright in smaller markets.

As an example, remember how quickly in-line skating became rollerblading? But Rollerblade is trademarked, and has been vigorously defended in the US, Canada, and Europe. In-line skating remains the generic term only through lawsuits. In-line skates in China are known as rollerblades, though.

 

[GwydionM]

Brand names can lead you astray. In the UK, the brand-name Durex is the normal term for male contraceptive sheeths. In Australia, Durex is the normal term for the sticky tape that Brits call Sellotape (itself a brand name).

On a different note, consider china, orignally China-ware and coming from the Far East before Europeans learnt the art in the 18th century.

------------------
A view from the UK

 

[lespaul]

and let's not forget Kleenex, the product is facial tissues, but who calls them that??? No matter the brand, I'm getting a kleenex!

leslie

 

[SF0751]

There is an excellent article about proprierty eponyms on the Motley Fool website

Susan
[green]Gramen artificiosum odi. [/green]

 

[TheRambler]

There is also the Database of American Proprietary Eponyms but it has not been updated since December 8, 1997

 

[TheRambler]

RinkWorks has a longer list of proprietary eponyms.

 

[ESquared]

I just call facial tissues, well... tissues. I don't use Kleenex because it bugs me to use brand names when I can avoid without sounding strange.

-------------------------------------
A sacrifice is harder when no one knows you've made it.

 

[mrees]

Something I have always wondered about..there is a company called Tarmac, that make building materials. I have heard the word tarmac used to describe asphalt e.g. "The plane left the tarmac". So you could say that this is a brand-name being used to describe something more generic....but I assume that tarmac is short for tarmacadom. Is tarmacadom a generic object? Did Tarmac invent it or just take their name from it? Or do I need to just get out a bit more?

 

[Dimandja]

What about booze? Did a fella named Booz have anything to do with it?

 

[CajunCenturion]

Tarmacadam and asphalt are not the same thing. They are related in that they are both used in paving, but different materials and techniques. Originally, you have to look at British engineer John McAdam, who in the early 1800's improved roads by laying down layers of stones, with the smallest being on top. Such a road was considered to McAdamized. Later, tar was added as a top cover and the material/technique was know as tarmacadam. Later that was shortened to tarmac, and was registered as a Registered Trademark of a British company around 1900. Soon, it was discovered that asphalt was even better, and tarmacadam become obsolete.

I don't know how tarmac (generic) has become associated with airports as the area, other than taxiways and runways, where planes operate on the ground. The timeline doesn't make sense because these pavement technologies were being developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s before we started building airports.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[SF0751]

Yes, you need to get out more. Then again, so do I. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarmac

for a short explanation of tarmac, including the Tarmac company, which was launched by the inventor of Tarmac, E. Purnell Hooley.

Susan
[green]Gramen artificiosum odi. [/green]