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Hoover
It’s not used as a generic trademark in the US and the chart says it was made by an attorney in the US state of Colorado, presumably for an American audience. There’s a chance the creator of the chart has never even heard of a vacuum cleaner being called a “hoover” if it wasn’t a Hoover-brand vacuum.
The first time I saw a Brit mention hoovering their house I misunderstood and thought they were claiming they had made their house float in the air.
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I had no idea that a lot of those were brand names
That’s why when someone says “they have to protect their IP otherwise they lose it”, they’re full of shit. The bar for losing a trademark is essentially that no one can be reasonably expected to know it was a trademark.
Roomba is a big one that is missing.
I find it interesting how all but a few are two syllables. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
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Yeah, I thought the word Jeep originally came from the military initials GP - General Purpose vehicle. The generic term 4x4 (four by four) is pretty common in the UK.
When I read that my initial thought was more like a military jeep or any boxy army vehicle
My second thought was that one Mercedes jeep but that’s clearly not a jeep brand
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Well thanks for the name I see rarely mostly on the freeway and every time I see it I’m like “there’s no way a bad guy doesn’t have a convoy of these”
I would have never in a million years guessed the name is g wagon tho
Well, the official name is G-Class (or G-Klasse in German). G-Wagen is a colloquial name. Wagen means vehicle in German, btw., where the G-Class isn’t known as G-Wagen at all.
The G is short for Geländewagen (off road vehicle) btw., so calling it G-Wagen is kinda like calling it an ATM-Machine.
Ah that makes sense
If anything Jeep on this list is backwards. It was originally a generic term for that military style vehicle made by various manufacturers. Then it became its own thing as the Jeep brand. But then Jeep further broadened their offerings ( Cherokee, Patriot, compass, etc) and the Jeep became a wrangler. But when I say I drive a Jeep, everyone assumes specifically a wrangler.
It’s very common in Germany to call off-road vehicles jeeps
I’ll take the low hanging fruit. Kleenex.
I don’t know anyone who calls tissues “Kleenex”.
Wonder if it’s regional or generational.
Could be. I’m 42 and from NJ and I’d call them kleenex or tissues interchangeably.
43 from CA/AZ and am in the same boat.
30 in Texas and the two are used interchangeably here too.
Where is hoover
Congressional cemetery
I’m surprised how long yo-yo lasted
And that Frisbee still has
Chapstick goes all the way back to the 1880’s? Holy shit!
I suppose a tweet isn’t a Twitter.
I suppose a toot isn’t a Mastodon.
Haha I meant, I guess that’s why Twitter isn’t on the list. Since the name itself didn’t become part of our vocabulary.
The Dumpster Brothers? Their last fucking name was Dumpster? Wild that that was just a common last name with no connection to trash for centuries
Look again, it actually says Dempster
On cold nights, we’d gather together around the Dempster fire and discuss how bad things were, we’d share drinks and bond as the we burned the garbage to stay warm on those cold nights. No one could turn away for those Dempster fires as they were amazing to watch. Yep Everyone loved watching those Dempster fires
Binster
Both words are used, so I understand the confusion; also, sprinkled with a little misspelling:
Dumpster: The Dempster Brorthers, Inc.
EDIT: Just read the Dumpster Wikipedia page. The Dempster Brothers’ had a truck called The Dempster Dumpmaster 😂
Ormagord, Sorper Morio Brorthers
Look again, it actually says Trumpster
Look again, it actually says Drumpster
Drumphster
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Wait until you learn about Thomas Crapper, who made major improvements to the modern toilet.
And his name wasn’t the origin of the word crap. It was just destiny!
Nominative determinism!
I agree. If dump was a word before (I’ll have to check), then dumpster is a simple modification.
It’s kind of indicative that the courts have bent to corporations on not generciding names for nearly 60 years. How long have dumpsters been so ubiquitous that no one even knew it was a brand? Very Berenstain Bears situation.
No Coke?
Do people really use coke generically? I’ve always thought coke to refer solely to coca-cola. Maybe it’s just a regional thing.
Yeo. Root beer coke, Dr pepper coke, “get me a case of coke” “what type?” “Ginger ale” etc
What’s the generic term in your area?
You just say what you want. If you want to refer to all then it’s soda.
Does soda also refer to lemonades? In my region we call it Kola and Limo :D
No, only carbonated drinks.
You lemonade isn’t carbonated?? Damn
Using “coke” as a generic word for soft drinks is very regional in the US. In a large part of the country you would get a funny look if you referred to some other brand as a coke. The law office that made this is in Colorado, and it looks like they’re solidly in “pop” territory.
As if Coca-Cola would ever allow that to happen. They’d send death squads against the court that even thought about it.
I’m going to watch a Disney! 😄
Typical exchange in Texas:
Person A: Can I have a coke?
Person B: What kind?
Person A: Dr Pepper
I hope they lose Realtor
I hope the world loses realtors
That’s the only that surprised me, and it’s still protected? How does that one work?
The National Association of Realtors is pretty consistent at insisting anyone not associated with them is a real estate agent not a Realtor.
Really … that is interesting. I don’t know anyone not in the business that 1) knows this and 2) cares.
They have to protect their image!
I’m not in the business. I’ve bought a house but other than that, don’t have any dealings with real estate agents. I don’t really care. But they do, so it’s kinda plastered anywhere Realtor is used (all kinds of marks after the name) and I even vaguely remember TV ads about realtors being better than real estate agents or something.
Missing Hoover
Only in UK.
It’s probably American biased. In the US it’s commonly called a ‘vacuum’ or ‘vacuum cleaner.’ ‘Hoover’ is not used much in US.
I dunno, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t call it a vacuum. I know people who own Hoover’s and they still call it their vacuum.
That’s UK English vs. American English. I think American English might genericise (if that’s a word) trademarks more often than UK English, but hoover is one that the UK has that America doesn’t.
I think another one is referring to cream cheese as Philadelphia.
I’m American though so any Brit’s out there please correct me if I’m wrong.
In the US, we have this in menu items. Like “Philadelphia Roll” has cream cheese.
Funny enough Philadelphia can not be called a cream cheese in the EU
It has certainly fallen out of favor, similarly to Xerox. It used to be the primary way people referred to vacuum cleaners.
