Wordsmith.org
Posted By: Zed Brand name troubles - 04/04/03 12:44 AM
It's not just slang that causes misunderstandings when you travel . Brand names can be tricky. I bought a bike in England and got those foam handlebar covers for it. When I asked if there was an easy way to put them on The shop keeper said "Just use fairy liquid." I thought he was being funny so replied "Oh good, and the elves will come and do it for me." It turns out that Fairy Liquid is a common brand of dish soap.
Any other examples?

Posted By: modestgoddess Re: Brand name troubles - 04/04/03 02:06 AM
Ooh, I've got a good one! There's a clothing company (as you, Zed, will know!) in Canada called "Roots." In Australia, to root is slang for, ahem, havin' sex (doin' the nasty, makin' the beast with two backs, shaggin', gettin' jiggy with it, etc.).

A friend who went to Australia warned me about this, saying that when she was down under, she wore her Roots sweatshirt quite a bit...until an Australian told her what that word means down there. (I suspect, from a cross-cultural point of view, it doesn't help that Roots clothes often have a beaver on them - the mammular kind, but still....)

I told everyone in the office where I worked at the time, about this; on my last day of work before I left to go to Australia for a year-long working holiday visa, my colleagues gave me....a "Roots Canada" t-shirt. And a handful of novelty condoms, all of which had passed their expiry date. Sighhh....

The t-shirt went missing somewhere along my way round Oz. To this day, I'm not sure if I simply forgot to take it off a clothesline at a hostel somewhere, or if some Aussie nicked it off same as a humorous souvenir....

Posted By: modestgoddess Re: Brand name troubles - 04/04/03 02:15 AM
Ooh, I've got another one: I went on a cruise in the Caribbean with a girlfriend, years ago. She and I have been penpals since the year dot - she lives in the UK (Reading, these days) and I live in Kingston (Canada). As we unpacked in our cabin, somehow the talk turned to something health-related - sunburns, maybe? Anyway, my friend said we could always use the Witch Doctor. I was quite bemused but tried to play along, saying, "That's right! Ooo, eee, ooo ah ah, ting tang, wallah wallah bing bang!"

Of course she looked at me very strangely. She'd never heard the song. What she had been talking about was a witch-hazel gel product from the UK, that comes in a tube and is used for stings, rashes, mild burns etc...!

We sang the witch doctor chorus quite a bit over the two-week vacation....

Posted By: Bean Re: Brand name troubles - 04/04/03 11:30 AM
Those stupid BUM Equipment sweatshirts from Wal-Mart. Apparently the first association for USns for the word "bum" is a hobo, not a person's rear end (where they came up with the brand name), and no one thought to check cultural stuff before they marketed it here. My mum really hates the brand name, she teeters on the point of finding it offensive.

I think we talked about BUM Equipment before you came here, Zed, and I discovered that they even have a website. It's a hoot when you read it thinking of the Canadian/British meaning of the word bum. Here you go:

http://www.bumequipment.com/ Enjoy!

Posted By: RhubarbCommando Re: Brand name troubles - 04/14/03 12:33 PM
I had a similar problem over here a few years ago when a friend of mine informed me he was changing his car. I asked he was getting and he said, "Well, I've bought a SEAT."
I, of course, being always ready for a joke, replied, "What will you buy next, the wheels? How long before you can afford it all? Hohoho."

SEAT is the Spanish equivalent of FIAT, the Italian car company, but was quite new in england in those days.

Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 04:54 AM
>"What will you buy next, the wheels? How long before you can afford it all? Hohoho."<

Roffle, Rhubarb! You have humor like my husband! I used to roll my eyes and groan, but after 24 years, I actually find myself amused at his jokes!

Regarding brand names....If I remember correctly, Texaco (or perhaps Exxon) the oil company, used to be called Enco. Sometime in the late 60s or early 70s, the company expanded its services to the Orient. It seems Enco in Japanese (or Chinese or Cantonese?) losely translates to mean "stop" So, of course they had to change the name.....

Note: this was obviously before the internet, and bogus stories of this nature were therefore not prevalent. In fact the reason I remember the story, was because my mother heard it on the Paul Harvey show on the car radio, while we were driving down the road, and she laughed out loud.....not something she is wont to do. So, I guess it stuck in my mind.



Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 06:22 AM
I heard a similar story about a USn car company which produced a car called Nova and was worried about the fact that it wasn't selling in Latin America.No va being the Spanish for doesn't go.

Bingley
Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 06:28 AM
And I don't know if it's true but it is rumoured that Grampian TV was originally going to be called Scottish Highlands and Islands Television.

Bingley
Posted By: Capfka Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 10:10 AM
Ah, who gives a ... Oh, I see what you mean.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 11:03 AM
before the internet, and bogus stories of this nature were therefore not prevalent

But by no means non-existent. Way I heard it enko meant broken car in Japanese. Never heard any confirmation from anybody actually knew Japanese.

The Nova story is also pre-internet and has been fairly well demolished. See:
http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.htm

As a sidelight on the Esso story, there was a pre-internet legend that Exxon was made up from a combination of Esso and Nixon.

Posted By: AnnaStrophic Brand name solutions - 04/16/03 11:27 AM
Anu's wife, Stuti, runs a company that handles precisely this type of challenge. [is this a commercial no-no, Jackie? If so, please delete for me].

http://www.namix.com/tt.html
Posted By: TEd Remington Texaco (or perhaps Exxon) - 04/16/03 01:40 PM
I thnk it was Esso who proved that a big oil company didn't have to be Humble.

Posted By: Rubrick Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 02:02 PM
Any other examples?

Yes, In Ostraylya there used to be a brand of sticky tape called Durex. It must have been a bugger to get off. fnar, fnar.

I think it's changed its name now.

Posted By: RhubarbCommando Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 03:35 PM
useful for sticking up the sign that says, "Buy me and stop one!"

Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 04/16/03 04:38 PM
>The Nova story is also pre-internet and has been fairly well demolished.<

Yes, I am quite familiar with the bogus Nova story....precisely why I added my note regarding the origin of the Enco story. It was some 30 years ago, and as I mentioned, there was no Internet to perpetuate a story like that. Besides, I just feel in my heart of guts that Paul Harvey would not have broadcast a bogus story. But, then I was but a mere child at the time and could have misunderstood the whole thing.....


Posted By: Faldage Re: Enco - 04/16/03 05:06 PM
I did look up enko in a Japanese-English dictionary this morning. Didn't have time to make a detailed research attempt. What I *did find didn't look all that problematic. Don't remember what it was.

The internet didn't create urban legends; it just makes them easier to propagate. They used to get passed around on mimeographed sheets. POSH from Port Out Starboard Home predates the internet by many a year.

I think I heard the Nova story around thirty years ago, too, for that matter.

Posted By: Zed Re: mis-translation - 04/16/03 06:25 PM
The other one I know that can't be substantiated is the salted crackers which didn't sell well in France when marked as "Biscuits Sale" which without the correct accent ( that I don't know how to put on the above e) means dirty crackers.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Dirty crackers - 04/16/03 06:39 PM
They sell Dirty Potato Chips® in the USA.

http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=9

Posted By: Zed Re: Dirty crackers - 04/16/03 06:45 PM
Mud flavoured chips, hmmm.They have to be as good as the ketchup flavored ones in England.
A Dutch friend travelling in the southern US asked for chips and was given a little bag of , to her, crisps. She managed to confuse everyone by responding. "No, no, I want chips. You know, the things you eat with mayonaise."

Posted By: wow Re: Chips aka French Fries - 04/16/03 06:55 PM
Chips (French Fries) with MAYONNAISE ?
GAAaaaaaarrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk © !

Posted By: Faldage Re: Dirty crackers - 04/16/03 06:55 PM
Whilst mav and I were waiting for the one guy in front of us at the sub shop in Battle Creek, MI this summer to order his 30 subs we noticed that the bags of what were to me chips and to him crisps were labeled potato crisps. The company that made them is in Texas.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Chips aka French Fries - 04/16/03 06:56 PM
GAAaaaaaarrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk © !

Try it, you might like it.

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Chips aka French Fries - 04/16/03 07:05 PM
>Try it, you might like it.

there is nothing better with (good) fries than vinegar!

-joe (good heavens, I've contributed to a food thread) friday

Posted By: wow Re: Chips (U.S. style) - 04/16/03 07:06 PM
I have been told that the thin fried shavings of potato that we call chips and the Brits call crisps were originated in Saratoga New York and if you want to be a stickler type for correctness then you must call them Saratoga Chips.
So there, too. Sniff Sniff.
The following is from iwon site.
"potato chips
Because these deep-fried, thinly sliced potatoes were invented by the chef of a Saratoga Springs, New York, hotel at the behest of a mid-19th-century guest, they're also called Saratoga chips. Now these all-American favorites come commercially in a wide selection of sizes, cuts (ripple and flat), thicknesses, and flavors such as chive, barbecue and NACHO. Most commercial potato chips contain preservatives; those labeled "natural" usually do not. Some are salted while others are labeled "low-salt"; though most potato chips are skinless, others do include the flavorful skin. There are even chips made from mashed potatoes formed into perfect rounds and packed into crushproof cardboard cylinders. All potato chips should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place. The storage time depends on whether or not they contain preservatives and how old they were when purchased. Some chips have a freshness date stamped on the package."



Posted By: vanguard Re: Chips (U.S. style) - 04/16/03 08:06 PM
I've seen people here in central Ohio dipping the french fries into the milkshake....ECHH!

Posted By: Zed Re: Chips (U.S. style) - 04/16/03 10:45 PM
Hi Vanguard
Thanks for the warning. With MILKSHAKES??
I got to like them with mayo while cycling in the Netherlands. Incidentally,at fairs where we would have a hotdog stand and the Brits a fish and chip stall the Dutch had herring stands. Choices include chips with mayo, cooked herring, pickled herring, raw herring and deep fried herring roe.

Posted By: nancyk Re: Dirty crackers - 04/17/03 12:29 AM
what were to me chips and to him crisps were labeled potato crisps.

Faldage, it's my understanding that anything other than thin-sliced-and-deep-fried potatoes - for example, the pre-formed potato snacks (like Pringles [brand name, sorry]) - cannot be labelled chips in the US. Hence, potato crisps to distinguish them from *real potato chips.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Crispy chips - 04/17/03 02:52 PM
anything other than thin-sliced-and-deep-fried potatoes

Interesting, nancy. I'll have to remember this and dig into it. I know there are some that are not fried but are baked to appeal to those wishing to avoid fried foods. I'll have to see what they're called.

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Crispy chips - 04/17/03 03:04 PM
I hadn't noticed this before, but in this list of Frito Lay products notice the baked potato crisps vs. baked tortilla chips. it seems to be per an FDA regulation/definition.

http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?manuf_code=9

-joe (spud) friday
Posted By: Faldage Re: Crispy chips - 04/17/03 03:13 PM
And the crisps are baked! Scrolling down the list we see potato chips that are not advertised as being baked.

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Crispy chips - 04/17/03 03:38 PM
t:notice the baked potato crisps
F:And the crisps are baked!

-joe (donning my crispy baked mantle) friday

Posted By: Faldage Re: Crispy mantles - 04/17/03 04:00 PM
Hey! I was underscoring you.

(hastily concocting some reasonable-sounding excuse)

Posted By: vanguard Re: Crispy mantles - 04/17/03 04:22 PM
Zed, back to your "dutch" food stand info...I think I'll take the milkshake-dipped fries, TYVM!

Posted By: Capfka Re: Crispy mantles - 04/17/03 04:36 PM
Try a bag of freedom fries, why don't you? They're like French fries, only politically correct!

Posted By: consuelo Re: Crispy mantles - 04/21/03 10:09 AM
I like mustard on my french fried potatoes. Mmmmhmmmmm.
I really do. I've been eating them that way since I was a child.

Posted By: Coffeebean Re: in the zone - 04/21/03 12:08 PM
Ah! A food thread at last! I've been lurking: reading and enjoying this thread.

Ummm....now I have a question. Are the Bike athletic products sold in German-speaking countries?

Posted By: Zed Re: bike - 04/29/03 12:23 AM
So what is "bike" in German. ( and before anyone nitpicks, I mean the German word bike translated into English not the other way around.)
I grew up skiing at Tod Mountain which has, now that they try for the international market, been renamed Sun Peaks Resort. Todd being the German for death, they were afraid it would only appeal to the extreme skiers.

Posted By: Coffeebean Re: bike - 04/29/03 03:19 AM
Well, bicycle is Fahrrad.



Posted By: Coffeebean Re: bike - 04/29/03 03:24 AM
Nitpicking???? Around HERE??????

Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: bike - 04/29/03 06:07 AM
Nitpicking???? Around HERE??????

*snortle*

Posted By: dxb Re: Crispy mantles - 04/29/03 09:01 AM
I like mustard on my french fried potatoes. Mmmmhmmmmm.

Sounds like a waste of good mustard. Oh, no. You prob'ly use that funny mild stuff that y'all squirt along yer hot dawgs, so it's not such a waste after all.


Posted By: Faldage Re: bike - 04/29/03 10:20 AM
the German word bike translated into English not the other way around

We really need wsieber or by here, but:

Couldn't find anything for Bike but going with pronunciation I come up with Beichte, confession. Best I could do.

Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: pissy stuff - 04/29/03 11:51 AM
Sounds like a waste of good mustard. Oh, no. You prob'ly use that funny mild stuff that y'all squirt along yer hot dawgs, so it's not such a waste after all.

Not to mention the pissy beer we USns drink along with them thangs, stale urine or not.

Posted By: dxb Re: pissy stuff - 04/29/03 12:53 PM
Not to mention the pissy beer we USns drink along with them thangs, stale urine or not.

Well, I thought it best to stay out of *that discussion. Discretion being the better part an' all that...


Posted By: musick Wrong glass, sir. - 04/29/03 06:04 PM
I do dare say that this is one point that everyone here has agreed upon at one time or another...

http://home.att.net/~bluesbrothers/chezpaul.htm

Posted By: Capfka Re: Wrong glass, sir. - 04/29/03 07:09 PM
Yeah, served with Blues Brothers mayonnaise. Something to throw up on. Properly lanted, too.

Posted By: dxb Re: Brand name troubles - 04/30/03 08:01 AM
Something’s been at the back of my mind about this thread and I just realized that it was the use of the words ‘dish soap’ in Zed’s initial post. My mind had skipped over it as something I didn’t quite understand but wasn’t essential that I should. Is the term ‘dish soap’ commonly used by Yousns? Over here we use ‘washing-up liquid’ for hand-washing dishes. In fact, after a meal we ‘do the washing-up’. (Or load the dish-washer.)

Posted By: consuelo Re: Brand name troubles - 04/30/03 09:53 AM
Dish soap is the word we US'ns use for the liquid soap used to wash the dishes and dishwasher detergent is used in dishwashers.
http://homesolutionsnews.com/rbdocs/us/electrasol/
http://www.east.asu.edu/sta/u-life/housing/maint.htm

Is it just me, or does it seem that the 2nd link's writer is terribly anal about cleanliness?

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 04/30/03 10:13 AM
Is the term ‘dish soap’ commonly used by Yousns?

Yup, USns gnereally calls it that or either dish detergent, one.

Posted By: of troy Re: Brand name troubles - 04/30/03 11:47 AM
Over here we use ‘washing-up liquid’ for hand-washing dishes. In fact, after a meal we ‘do the washing-up’. (Or load the dish-washer.)

In my household, (childhood one and current) we did "the dishes" (or loaded the dishwasher)
as children, we set the table, before dinner, (starting with a cloth for the table) after dinner, we cleared the table and did the dishes. Part of clearing the table included careful removal of the table cloth, which was furled out a window to remove the crumbs, before being folded for reuse, or tossed in the hamper for later washing.

thankfull, my mother read a pamplet from NYC board of health, that said it more sanitary to let dishes air dry, than to wipe them, (dry them with a cloth), so the sat in the drain board, and latter, my mother would empty it. (the cloth in question-- in our kitchen was always a tea towel- but nowdays, i am as likely to say kitchen towel.
paper towel were a luxury, and used scantily, nowdays, for ecological reasons, i too, use very few.. a roll of paper towels last me about 3 months!

to pick up hot pots, we used a potholder..(i know there are other term... lets hear 'em!)


Posted By: AnnaStrophic Re: Brand name troubles - 04/30/03 12:08 PM
"Yousns"
dxb!!

Well, I never heard dish soap before. I call it dishwashing liquid, or by a brand name. But my English is kind of weird.

Posted By: Jackie Re: Brand name troubles - 05/01/03 01:09 AM
Well, I knew what Zed meant. But in many bathrooms, er, washrooms, here, there is bar (or some other, usually decorative, shape) soap that actually IS in a dish--except for the folks who just let it reside on the edge of the sink--and we DON'T call that dish soap! I've gotten to where I say dishwashing liquid, as a way to keep the meaning separate from dishwasher detergent. From what I understand, woe betide the poor schmuck who puts dishwashing liquid in their automatic dishwasher. (Man, I hate my use of the word their, there! But couldn't bring myself to put 'his'.)

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/01/03 04:38 AM
In reply to:

From what I understand, woe betide the poor schmuck who puts dishwashing liquid in their automatic dishwasher. (Man, I hate my use of the word their, there! But couldn't bring myself to put 'his'.)


Jackie, if you can't bring yourself to use 'his' and don't like 'their', what's wrong with 'in an automatic dishwasher'? Presumably the unfortunate results (whatever they may be) will occur whether or not the shmuck in question owns the dishwasher.

Do you use 'woe betide' to mean any disastrous result? I've always heard it used to threaten swift punishment.

Bingley

Posted By: Jackie Re: Brand name troubles - 05/01/03 12:40 PM
I didn't use 'an', because a.) I didn't think to, because b.) it doesn't convey the meaning I wanted; it is not very likely that someone using a dishwasher in a home does not also own the dishwasher; and the disaster in a home would be emotionally worse than in, say, a restaurant.
Well, I never thought of or knew of woe betide meaning swift punishment, but I would consider having to clean up the resultant mess a punishment for being so sophomoric (hi, anchita) as to use dishwashing liquid in a dishwasher.

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/02/03 02:53 AM
Don't you ever help your relatives with the washing-up? I've loaded my parents' dishwasher on many an occasion.

Bingley
Posted By: Jackie Re: Brand name troubles - 05/02/03 12:48 PM
Actually, I load someone else's dishwasher on an average of once a year or less. Note that I didn't say "never"; I said "not very likely". My point was that I wanted to emphasize that the disaster would seem worse if: a.) there was only one person available to do the clean-up, and b.) if that person had messed up their own floor, countertop, etc. As opposed to, say, my having loaded and started my sister-in-law's dishwasher and waltzed home, only to hear later that I'd put dishwashing liquid in, and SHE had to clean up the mess. Therefore, had I put, "AN automatic dishwasher", my point would not have gotten across in the way I wanted it to. Sheesh!

Posted By: Capfka Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 05:06 AM
Akshully™,I've quite often seen the expression "stacked the dishwasher" in USn maunderings ... any of our tame USns use that one?

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 12:14 PM
tame USns

Tame USns!? Whereat??

Posted By: Capfka Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 12:50 PM
Oh, sorry. I meant housetrained. Anybody?

Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 08:39 PM
Seeing Anna's mention of saying the actual brand name when referring to a household product (I do too, btw) reminded me of a book I happened across many years ago. It listed all of the brand names that have now become generic terms for products we use often. It was a very slim volume, and I cannot remember a single item listed, other than the one in the title: something about Aspirin.
It seems Aspirin was once an actual brand name, that we now use
generically.

I would like to see that little book again.....

Posted By: birdfeed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 09:00 PM
"It seems Aspirin was once an actual brand name, that we now use generically. "

It still is, in Canada. I remember having to ask for ASA (acetylsalicylic acid) because Aspirin meant Bayer and only Bayer.

Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 09:05 PM
What I think is interesting about this, is that it can only happen spontaneously. Companies are always trying to make this happen with their products, but the public is so fickle!

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/03/03 11:38 PM
I'd always heard that companies were fighting like Billio to prevent it from happening, as it means they lose the rights to the name, so that anyone, for example, could call their pills aspirin.

Bingley
Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/04/03 12:23 AM
No, no, Bingley! Just the opposite! If a product name becomes the standard for that type of product, then it is the exemplar of that genre of products. Companies love that!

Posted By: of troy Re: Brand name troubles - 05/04/03 03:04 AM
No, Ruby they don't -- Xerox spends alot of money being xerox and making that the company.. they do not want to have xerox=copy/copies

Nor does the Klennex company want to lose the rights to its name.. if the names are used 'genericaly' in a publications,(say in a piece of fiction) the Xerox company lawyers will sue..

"cookie and cream ice cream isn't 'oreo ice cream'-- cause oreo is a brand name, not a generic one for chocolate cookie with super sweet white icing filling..

when something is close to generic, like oreo, companies will bring out variations, to widen the meaning, and to re-enforce its right to own the "name".
an oreo by any other name is a hydrox, or something!

in Canada, ask for "asprin" and you get a Bayer brand pill. in US, any company can use the term asprin- it is no advantage to Bayer, the first company to market ASA, and the company that worked hard to "develop" a market for Asprin!

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/04/03 07:48 AM
There is even a word, genericide, for this process. It means the "killling off" of a trademark by its becoming a general name.

Bingley
Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/04/03 10:03 PM
Companies love that!

Which is why they hire lawyers to stop anyone from doing it.

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Google® - 05/05/03 01:00 PM
I rest your case: [whiteout alert][crossthread alert]
"[Google] wants to protect its big-G, trademarked name rather than see it used as a little-g, generic term."

http://snurl.com/1afr

Posted By: Faldage Re: Google® - 05/05/03 01:11 PM
And I would say that Googleplex®'s attempts to get at McFedries is an example of shooting the messenger.

Posted By: tsuwm Re: Google® - 05/05/03 01:28 PM
hey, their expensive team of lawyers had to start somewhere..

I can just see them, googling like mad. <eg>
Posted By: wow Re: Brands/washing/comments - 05/05/03 03:54 PM
Mostly I say "dishwasher soap" for the automatic machine - or use a brand name like Calgon or Electrosol - and say "dish liquid" for the stuff you hand-wash dishes with or use a brand and specify "Palmolive liquid."
I say "hand soap" for the bars used in the bathroom; Ivory, Pears, etc..
Washing up is what I say when I mean I am going to wash my face and hands. Confused a gentleman from Australia when I arrived for our date and asked if he "...would mind waiting a minute so I can wash up?" meaning that I wanted to use the bathroom to wash my hands and face, touch up the makeup etc, before we went out. He looked blank for a second, put it together quickly and all worked out fine.
As to Brand Names - i.e. - Xerox, Kleenex, Palmolive, Calgon, Electrosol, Ivory, Pears, Coca-Cola, Coke, Pepsi-Cola - some reporter at our paper used the word "coke" to substitute for "cold soft drink" (the meaning was clear in context) and the Editor got a letter from the Coca-Cola Company - politely but firmly worded - pointing out that Coke is a proprietary name and should not be used as a substitute for all soft (non-alcoholic) drinks! And we were just a little weekly newpaper tucked away on the New Hampshire seacoast!
The Associated Press Stylebook has tons of entries on brand names that must be capitalized ! helen of troy is 100 percent kerrekt.
In the "As" alone - to state a few - : A&P (The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company,) Academy Awards, Ace (the bandages,) Actor's Equity Association; Adrenalin (trademarked name for epinephrine,)
Adventist (variant for Seventh Day Adventist,) Aer Lingus, Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Canada, Air Jamaica, Air France, Air India etc etc etc, AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industtrial Organizations,) A-frame, African, AIDS, Alcoa (Aluminum Comapny of America,) Alzheimer's disease, Amtrak, AMVETS, Anglican Communion, Axis (alliance of Germany, Italy, Japan in WW II.) Then, under "Awards and decorations" reporters are instructed to capitalize Bronze Star, Medal of Honor and to consult entries re Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize.
And I left out a lot - like holidays and agency names.
One more thing:
Pot holder - we also call "takers."
Aincha' sorry you asked?

Posted By: Capfka Re: Google® and its offshoots - 05/05/03 08:06 PM
You'll know that google rather than Google® has made it as an independent verb or noun when the Finns name a tango after it.

Posted By: RubyRed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/07/03 04:07 AM
Well, I guess you all know more than I do......it seems I have made a habit of presenting misinformation on this board :(

I guesss my Economics professor did not know what he was talking about.........

I still say the companies love having *their* brand name bandied about as a generic term for a type of product. For instance, Kleenex.....If a person knows they need to buy "kleenex" at the store, are they not more likely to buy Kleenex brand once they see the array of brands of facial tissues on the shelf?....simply because that is the brand they are more familiar with, due to the generic use of the word "kleenex" ??? I would Think the companies would love that!

They are foolish not to love that, imho, because that is virtually free advertisement by word of mouth. I don't believe that it diminishes the strength of their brand name.

I used to work for Hallmark.....and I know for a fact that Hallmark (although I'm sure someone will present facts to prove me wrong) wanted the use of their name to mean "greeting card" as in: "I need to run down and buy a hallmark for Mom for Mother's Day."



Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/07/03 10:38 AM
We playing slippery slope here. If they lose the rights to the trademarked name then anyone can call their greeting cards hallmarks.

Posted By: Bean Re: Brand name troubles - 05/07/03 02:45 PM
We call'em kleenex but I never buy the brand name. They're too soft and disintegrate under precisely the sort of stress they are designed to be used for. It's one of those occasions where I prefer the no-name brand. (Store brand is the equivalent USn term, I think.) They're scratchier but don't "melt" as easily.

And I also say dish soap, Zed, but that's probably not surprising, given our common country of origin.

Posted By: musick Re: Brand name troubles - 05/07/03 09:04 PM
Store brand is the equivalent USn term, I think.

Better known in these parts as 'generic' brand. Store brand usually means 'with a wrapper that has the stores name on it'... which is often less expensive than "name brands, but a little more expensive than 'generic'.

Posted By: Bean Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 10:44 AM
Thanks, I'd always wondered what exactly "store brand" meant when I'd read it in magazines, etc. Here the store brands have their own names depending on the chain involved (Safeway - "Safeway Select", any store owned by Loblaws - "President's Choice", any store owned by IGA/Sobeys monster conglomerate - "Our Compliments") and I never had a word to consider them all as a group. The step below the store brand is affectionately called "No-name brand", as mentioned above - it's the one with the plain-coloured packaging with just the name of the product on the front. "No-name brand" is one of those great names to use for a group when you're stuck doing some stupid group team-building games and you're instructed to pick a name for your group.

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 12:16 PM
There was an early music group that sang in the Ithaca area a few years back called The Ensemble Sine Nomine. I generally refered to them as The No Name Bunch.

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 12:42 PM
I'd bet a google of Sine Nomine would bring up many groups with that name. musicians being so clever and all..



Posted By: Bean Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 01:56 PM
And if it were a bunch of mathematicians in the singing group, it might just be Sine Cosine.

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 02:07 PM
nice tangent, Bean!

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/08/03 02:07 PM
a google of Sine Nomine

The first page yields music groups in Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Italy (rock), Sweden, and the UK. That's not counting the group of language teachers in Boston.

Posted By: Jackie Re: Google® and its offshoots - 05/08/03 04:21 PM
when the Finns name a tango after it.
Neil and Tim?

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/09/03 03:06 AM
And there used to be a restaurant near where I work called Warung Tanpa Nama.

Bingley
Posted By: Jackie Re: Brand name troubles - 05/09/03 01:00 PM
Warung Tanpa Nama
The Shop with No Name? [hopeful smile e]

Posted By: Faldage Re: Brand name troubles - 05/09/03 01:26 PM
My summer in Santa Fe I lived on Camino Sin Nombre.

Posted By: Zed Re: Brand name troubles - 05/10/03 12:43 AM
But I bet the IRS still found you.

Posted By: Bingley Re: Brand name troubles - 05/10/03 02:32 AM
Warung: small shop or eating house, often just a stall.

Bingley
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