Klarinet Archive - Posting 000374.txt from 2002/01

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Just a little fun FYI
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 13:28:39 -0500

Annoyingly, and more frequently than I ever expected, I hear people
refer to a flavored soda drink generically as a "Coke." And when you
have two people who understand it the same way, the conversation goes
perversely like this:

Waiter/Cashier: "You want a drink with that?"

Patron: "I'll have a Coke."

Waiter/Cashier: "Sure, what'll it be?"

Patron: "Mmm, a Pepsi sounds good."

Waiter/Cashier: "Coming right up!"

~ Neil

--- Robert <LetsReason@-----.com> wrote:
> From Dee Hays, <<"Saran Wrap" is a specific brand of plastic wrap and thus
> should be
> capitalized to indicate that. However, like many other names, it often gets
> applied in a generic sense.>>
>
> We had an interesting week back in 1988 when I was a manager of the
> Lynnhaven 8 Theaters in Virginia Beach, Virginia (USA) when the General
> Manager asked us in a manager's meeting how many name trademarked items that
> had become so popular that their brand name had become the commonly used
> name of the generic item. Here are some we came up with: (please keep in
> mind, they are subjective because one person may suggest an item and another
> insists that "they" never call it by that name)
>
> Kleenex (facial tissue), Q-Tips (cotton swabs), Vaseline (petroleum jelly),
> Vise-grips (adjustable locking pliers), Phillips screwdriver (?-sorry,
> drawing a blank), and I believe Crescent Wrench was a trademark name
> (adjustable wrench) but am in no way sure on that one, Jell-o (gelatin),
> Jeep (jeep? LOL), Band-aid (plastic [adhesive?] bandage), Kool-aid (this
> one may have gone the wayside but was surely the rage in 1988--flavored
> instant drink), Walkman (pocket-sized cassette-tape player, now including
> various other devices), Saran Wrap (plastic wrap), for a relatively brief
> while IBM was synonomous with PCs as well ("Do you have an Apple or IBM?"
> where IBM could be any brand of personal computer not Apple.) For just an
> instant, it seemed that "Bic" (or was it Bik?) was trying to replace
> "lighter" when their ad campaign was in full swing.
>
> There are actually many more. Can you think of any?
>
> Robert
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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