These Brand Names Are Used As Generic Terms
Here in the Quad Cities it's most common to refer to carbonated beverages as pop or maybe soda. But in the southern states you'll get the stink-eye if you don't call it Coke.
Other every day items are called by a brand name instead of their generic terms. Here's a list that we're all guilty of using:
- Jet Ski – Kawasaki Heavy Industries' personal watercraft.
- Bubble Wrap – Trademarked by Sealed Air Corporation.
- Onesies – Infant bodysuits owned by Gerber Childrenswear.
- Jacuzzi – A brand of hot tubs, bathtubs, mattresses and toilets.
- Crock-Pot – Brand name for slow cooker.
- Seeing Eye Dog – Guide dog trained by Seeing Eye in Morristown, New Jersey.
- Breathalyzer – Owned by the Indiana University Foundation, originally called the Drunk-O-Meter
- Zamboni – Ice resurfacer invented by Frank Zamboni.
- Chapstick – Lip balm produced by Pfizer.
- Kleenex – Try reminding people that Kleenex are just facial tissues.
- Ping-Pong – Trademarked in 1901 as table tennis products.
- Popsicle – Frozen treat that's a registered trademark of Unilever.
- Q-Tips – Originally called Baby Gays, Unilever owns the cotton swabs.
- Rollerblades – The only brand of inline skates until the mid-eighties.
- Scotch Tape – Scotch Magic Tape is only manufactured by 3M in Hutchinson, Minnesota.
- Sharpie – Permanent marker invented in 1956.
- Realtor – Realtor trademarked to specifically to separate the National Association of Realtors from most other real estate agents.
- Tupperware – Brand named after creator Earle Silas Tupper.
- Velcro – The world's most prominent brand of hook and loop fasteners.
- Weed Eater – Owned by Husqvarna Outdoor Products.
- Wite-Out – Correction fluid trademarked by BIC.
- Band-Aids – Johnson & Johnson created the combination of gauze and adhesive tape.
- TASER – Trademark of TASER International, stands for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle."
- X-acto Knife – Hobby knives that started as surgical scalpels.
- Dumpster – Got it's name from Dempster Brothers Inc.
- Novocain – Hospira Inc.'s branded Procaine Hydrochloride.
- Xerox – Name for photocopying that Xerox has been fighting for years.
- Post-Its – Trademark of 3M, started as Press 'N Peel.
- Ouija Board – Introduced by Elijah Bond as a practical way to communicate with spirits. Hasbro Inc. owns the trademark now.
- Plexiglas – The better-known name for acrylic glass or polymethyl methacrylate.
- Styrofoam – Expanded polystyrene is the generic name for the material that we typically think of as Styrofoam. Trademark of the Dow Chemical Company.
- Formica – Decorative laminate made by the Diller Corporation.
- Frisbee, Hula Hoop & Slip'n Slide – Are all owned by WHAM-O.
- Windbreaker – Jackets made by Celebration Trading Inc.
- Stetson – Cowboy hats made by the John B. Stetson Company.
- PowerPoint – Presentation and graphics program developed by Microsoft.
- GED – Trademarked by the American Council on Education.
Read more at Mental Floss.