Brand names that have become verbs?

OutlawPete

Just hoovering there (while listening to Celine Dion) and got to thinking about how I use the word 'hoover' even though the last time we actually had a 'Hoover' was back in the late 80's. Must really piss off Dyson and the like, that people will walk into Electrical shops/stores worldwide and ask: 'Can you tell me the hoovers are?' but actually mean vacuum cleaners as a whole. So what does the shop man/woman even say when this happens? Does he/she ask the person in what context they are using the word 'hoover' or is what they actually mean: 'Where are the vacuum cleaners please?'. Or does he/she direct them to just where the Hoover Vaccum Cleaners are located? Because what I suspect is that he/she presumes they don't mean the brand 'Hoover' at all and that they just want to know were the vacuum cleaners are and so will direct them to ALL them, which is quite unfair to 'Hoover' as they could very well mean just Hoover hoovers. Victims of their own success I suppose. Well, I for one will think twice in future when I say: "I'm just gonna hoover up sweetheart" and not just because I live alone either.

Oh and 'Google' of course is another one, any more?

Itsdacraic

Tippex
Biro
Seleotape
Blutack
Jeep
Taytos

landsleaving

Celine Dion?

Jesus, I hope the hoover drowned it out

Duggy747

OutlawPete wrote: »

Just hoovering there (while listening to Celine Dion)

*heehee*

Frank Black

Walkman - back in the day obviously.

It was only Sony that produced the Walkman - the rest were personal stereos.

mikedragon32

Rollerblading - Rollerblade
Tangoed - only really used in the past tense referring to having turned something orange. Like a female skanger's make up!

bonerm

verbs?

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Tippex yes
Biro no
Seleotape yes
Blutack suppose
Jeep suppose
Taytos eh no

mikemac

I may own a landrover or a Pajero but it's a jeep

Not realy in Ireland but on TV shows you are ordered to xerox that report and you ride that saucy one from HR in the xerox room after the Christmas party

All crisps are Taytos, it's the rule!

landsleaving

bonerm wrote: »

verbs?

I'll Tayto you if you don't stop biroing!

trad

Google?

JohnFalstaff

Xerox would fit the bill...
Sandwich? (for the eponymous earl!)

tayto lover

Roger-ed.

fabbydabby

Interestingly you often have situations where an owner of a brand name is legally compelled to relinquish control over it once it gets into everyday usage as a descriptive word (not necessarily a verb though).

Examples include Escalator brand moving stairs, Asprin, Corkflakes, Kerosene, trampoline, zipper, and (believe it or not) Heroin.

Brands which look like they are headed that way are Xerox (esp in USA) and Photoshop.

Frank Black

Coke is used instead of Cola by a lot of people.

Kevin Duffy

Vaseline, in certain circles.

In other news, do people understand what a verb is?

Frank Black

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

Vaseline, in certain circles.

In other news, do people understand what a verb is?

yes, it's rhetorical questions I have trouble with.

Teyla Emmagan

Bing it!! That came up instead of 'Google it' in one episode of the new Hawaii 5-0. I'm still laughing inside. Wonder how much that attempt at product placement cost them?

Tippex

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Tippex
Biro
Seleotape
Blutack
Jeep
Taytos

Woot I'm a verb......

Air_Bass

Autotune - eg. that fool on X Factor was so obviously Autotuned.

Tea Bag (more of a product name than a brand name though) - eg. I tea-bagged yer ma last night.

Hilti - eg. I thought yer ma had Hiltied my jocks to the floor.

Kevin Duffy

black francis wrote: »

yes, it's rhetorical questions I have trouble with.

Do I know what rhetorical means?!

It wasn't rhetorical, it was genuine, 'cos so far a surprising number of contributors have displayed no knowledge of what the word means and a definition may have been in order. So far a lot of people seem to think it's when a brand name becomes the accepted term for all similar products.

Anyhoo, moving on, FedEx (it) for all acts of sending by courier.

Frank Black

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

So far a lot of people seem to think it's when a brand name becomes the accepted term for all similar products.

.

I'm pretty sure that's what the OP meant.

LumpyGravy

Black & Decker

OutlawPete

landsleaving wrote: »

Celine Dion?

Jesus, I hope the hoover drowned it out

Celine Dion is an incredible recording artist who not only has sublime vocal power but can also deliver on soft toned tracks such as Brahm's Lullaby. Her music is not only extremely well written and incredibly varied, but it also displays the kind of emotion that breaks through the hard shell that we all have around our hearts. During Celine's early years her songs were immature and lacked depth and she was guilty of vocal posturing for sure but from the mid 90's she gained maturity and her music began to speak to listeners on a level that only previous artists such as Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette could ever manage. An artist that is not only very relevant today but one who's lyrics portray her obvious heatfelt empathetic feelings for her audience's sorrow, heartache and like a sponge, her melodic tones can soak the pain of relationship troubles and unrelenting melancholy and to her credit she is prepared continue to work hard to stay that way. Not only will the heart go on, Dion will too.

ronnie3585

Tannoy.

J_E

Don't you mean nouns?

Anyway, scotch tape.

plein de force

People please learn what a verb is.

i think 'hoover' is probably the biggest one. Many people wouldn't know it's a brand name.

Frank Black

'Champagne' to describe any sparkling white wine.

Noodleworm

Google and Hoover are verbs, e.g a doing word.
Tayto is a noun. >.>

If you mean brand names that became the generic term for a product, then food products have it the most. When a brand of something new comes out, tesco or other supermarkets quickly have their own version but we often use the brand name to describe it.

Dyr

plein de force wrote: »

People please learn what a verb is.

i think 'hoover' is probably the biggest one. Many people wouldn't know it's a brand name.

j edgar must be p**sed off about it

this is arse

bender

http://www.benders.co.uk

JohnFalstaff

Many brand names used by early toy manufacturers have become verbs over the years - for example Trampoline, Ping-Pong and Yo-Yo.

18AD

Jam

McTigs

OutlawPete wrote: »

Celine Dion is an incredible recording artist who not only has sublime vocal power but can also deliver on soft toned tracks such as Brahm's Lullaby. Her music is not only extremely well written and incredibly varied, but it also displays the kind of emotion that breaks through the hard shell that we all have around our hearts. During Celine's early years her songs were immature and lacked depth and she was guilty of vocal posturing for sure but from the mid 90's she gained maturity and her music began to speak to listeners on a level that only previous artists such as Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette could ever manage. An artist that is not only very relevant today but one who's lyrics portray her obvious heatfelt empathetic feelings for her audience's sorrow, heartache and like a sponge, her melodic tones can soak the pain of relationship troubles and unrelenting melancholy and to her credit she is prepared continue to work hard to stay that way. Not only will the heart go on, Dion will too.

AmericanPsychoTastic!

OutlawPete

Cydoniac wrote: »

Don't you mean nouns?

No.

Tonyandthewhale

Outlawpete, what are the rules on wearing a sports jacket with suit pants? And have you murdered any prostitutes lately?

cml387

OutlawPete wrote: »

Celine Dion is an incredible recording artist who not only has sublime vocal power but can also deliver on soft toned tracks such as Brahm's Lullaby. Her music is not only extremely well written and incredibly varied, but it also displays the kind of emotion that breaks through the hard shell that we all have around our hearts. During Celine's early years her songs were immature and lacked depth and she was guilty of vocal posturing for sure but from the mid 90's she gained maturity and her music began to speak to listeners on a level that only previous artists such as Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette could ever manage. An artist that is not only very relevant today but one who's lyrics portray her obvious heatfelt empathetic feelings for her audience's sorrow, heartache and like a sponge, her melodic tones can soak the pain of relationship troubles and unrelenting melancholy and to her credit she is prepared continue to work hard to stay that way. Not only will the heart go on, Dion will too.

Dion (noun)
An elaborate heartfelt essay on a subject which barely deserves it.

Example :"That article in the Independent about Jedward was a bit of a dion,wasn't it?"

pa990

Kevin Duffy wrote: »

In other news, do people understand what a verb is?

verb |vərb|
noun Grammar
a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, ha

OutlawPete

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

Outlawpete, what are the rules on wearing a sports jacket with suit pants?

Fine once you turn the collar up slightly.

Tonyandthewhale wrote: »

And have you murdered any prostitutes lately?

Not recently, no.

Newaglish

pa990 wrote: »

verb |vərb|
noun Grammar
a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, ha

Verb is a noun? *head asplodes*

Eathrin

LumpyGravy wrote: »

Black & Decker

I must hear this.
In what way is that a verb??

Eathrin

Oh and failed attempt: "Let's Fifa 09"
No Fifa you are not a verb.

mahamageehad

Cian A wrote: »

I must hear this.
In what way is that a verb??

I blacked and deckered her??? :P

Sounds legit to me! :P

pickarooney

I thought 'hoover' was only a verb in Hiberno-English but it seems to be used in the UK as well.

"Breathalyze" is one of the few proprietary eponyms I can think of which is commonly used as a verb.

AnonoBoy

pickarooney wrote: »

I thought 'hoover' was only a verb in Hiberno-English but it seems to be used in the UK as well.

"Breathalyze" is one of the few proprietary eponyms I can think of which is commonly used as a verb.

*pushes glasses up nose*

Frank Black

Forget about the verb thing - if you read the OP again you'll see that the word hover is not used as a verb - it's refering to the vacuum cleaner.


Here's some more

AstroTurf
Band Aid
Brillo Pad
Frisbee
Hula-Hoop
Magic Marker
Play-Doh
Polaroid
Post-It Note
Super Glue
Thermos
Velcro

u140acro3xs7dm

****!!

Gulliver

Tarmacadam - D'ya want yer drive tarmaced, boss?
Gripfill - I've gripfilled that Chinese shag swing to the ceiling for ya (might be a local thing - the verb, not the swing )
Velcro - Don't worry honey, I Velcroed the baby to the roof rack. Drive on.
Ebay - "Where'd you get the swing?" "I ebayed it"

Ok, not a verb, but I love how all circular saws are Skilsaws, even though I've never actually seen a Skil-made saw even though they invented the damn thing.

FinnLizzy

It's really annoying when you have the particular brand in your head.
For example: "You don't need to get that, we have Coke at home".
*Brings out ****ty Tesco Cola.*

The Tayto vs. Crisps debate is mainly outside of Dublin, as most Dubliners eat Kings. And the people that refer to all crisps as Tayto are doomed abroad!

AnonoBoy

FinnLizzy wrote: »

The Tayto vs. Crisps debate is mainly outside of Dublin, as most Dubliners eat Kings. And the people that refer to all crisps as Tayto are doomed abroad!

That's true, they do eat a lot of King Tayto in Dublin.

pickarooney

black francis wrote: »

Forget about the verb thing - if you read the OP again you'll see that the word hover is not used as a verb - it's refering to the vacuum

I don't see that at all. The addition of the -ing to the second word makes it pretty damn clear that it's a verb, as does the title and Pete's subsequent post.

AnonoBoy

pickarooney wrote: »

I don't see that at all. The addition of the -ing to the second word makes it pretty damn clear that it's a verb, as does the title and Pete's subsequent post.

Hoover me timbers you're right!