Cotton swabs. Exactly 0 people call them that in normal conversation.
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Products you will refer to by their brand name rather than their actual name
- Thread starter Squarehard
- Start date
We always called them cotton buds in the UK. Never had the Q-Tip brand as far as I'm aware.
My mum and dad call them "ear pokers".
They're both deaf now. Probably a coincidence...
Coke is a weird one here.
People called all soda cokes in the 90s and early 00s, but it kinda faded out after that and I never hear it anymore.
People called all soda cokes in the 90s and early 00s, but it kinda faded out after that and I never hear it anymore.
Oh yeah all the classics. Kleenex, Koolaid, Band-aid. I have some Mexican friends who call all soda Coke.
Oh and for people who don't know, not all Velcro stuff is velcro. Velcro is a company name, not the name of the hook and loop fasteners.
List of generic and genericized trademarks - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Bruuuuuuuuuh
Panadol in NZ for the brand and paracetamol for the drug, same thing as Tylenol/acetaminophen. Which is to say I did call it by the drug name in my new immigrant confusion stage.
Jet Ski. I work in the industry and even though Kawasaki has very little market share, the name refuses to go away. Most dealers will let slip jetski as a term when selling other brands.
In Australia too. Glad was apparently the first cling wrap to market here. It was actually invented here, but first appeared in US markets. Saran never made it down here from what I can tell, which is the reason we refer to it as cling wrap.
Cotton Buds here too in Australia. I don't remember seeing Q-Tip marketed here also.
In Australia too. Glad was apparently the first cling wrap to market here. It was actually invented here, but first appeared in US markets. Saran never made it down here from what I can tell, which is the reason we refer to it as cling wrap.
Cotton Buds here too in Australia. I don't remember seeing Q-Tip marketed here also.
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Kleenex
Q-tips
Band-aid
Tylenol/Advil
Crazy Glue
Chapstick
Velcro
Google
...probably a couple more but can't remember 🤣
Q-tips
Band-aid
Tylenol/Advil
Crazy Glue
Chapstick
Velcro
...probably a couple more but can't remember 🤣
Sabritas here in MĂ©xico which is actually the brand that produces and sells popular chips such as Doritos, Fritos, and many more.
At least where I live everyone calls every brand of chip, Sabritas
At least where I live everyone calls every brand of chip, Sabritas
Kind of related , we'll say Jack and Coke and we just mean whisky and cola .
Skillsaw when talking about a circular saw
Imer when talking about a tile saw
Imer when talking about a tile saw
This is a good one!
Superglue
Sharpie only if it's really permanent marker
Scotch tape, partly because other brands often weren't as good over the years, so I hoped the buyer would get the brand name
Sharpie only if it's really permanent marker
Scotch tape, partly because other brands often weren't as good over the years, so I hoped the buyer would get the brand name
The treaty of Versailles was wild. They were just throwing in all sorts of random crap.
Its also where the "its not champagne unless it comes from the champagne region of france" comes from.
ChapStick (edit) already done I see
Liquid Paper here in Australia.
Liquid Paper here in Australia.
I came to post this. That's what we call them here in RI too!
Bahahaha I had no Idea Tater Tots was one of them. I guess that's been genericized forever.
Probably very french canadian specific but when I was a kid, practically everyone called a refridgerator a "frigidaire". Still say that to this day but it's not as common around me.
Heck, it took me till my mid-20s to realize it was the actual brand, it never crossed my mind until I noticed XD
Heck, it took me till my mid-20s to realize it was the actual brand, it never crossed my mind until I noticed XD
France french too. But Mostly using Frigo as a shorthand for Frigidaire as i mentionned above, but Frigidaire is still used from time to time. Mostly by older generations that think they use the proper word (and yet still don't :p ).
As others have pointed out this must be a UK thing then. I assume they were first to the market here, or the one that took off. I don't think we've ever owned one, but my mum did.
I don't think Superglue is a brand name as you can buy any generic type with that name?
I wouldn't even know what to call it if not Maggi. 'Taste enhancer"?
Also a somewhat related anecdote:
When I was in Indonesia, I ordered a cola, and they said: sorry, we don't have cola, only Pepsi. That was an unintentional sick burn
I've always hated this because Gundams are a very specific type of mech within the Gundam series, whereas all mechs in it are actually refered to generically as "mobile suits".
At the risk of sounding like a hippocrite my own example is Gunpla for robot models. Yeah "plamo" is the neutral generic term but I just like the way Gunpla sounds in comparison.
Ha, yeah I use gunpla as a catchall myself.
"Gundams" was used by my wife and youngest son back when I was watching and building more. I stopped having the energy to "ackshually" lol.
This is a case I think where if someone actually watches it they always call them mobile suits, but if they're only cursory familiar by say just knowing someone who watches the series or builds kits then they're almost always Gundams.
I understand why since it's the name of the damn meta-series but knowing that doesn't bother me any less.
(I'm a bit of a Gundam nerd lmao)
A funny thing related to the Gundam example, the first episode of Full Metal Panic Fumoffu refers to Arm Slaves(fmps mechs) as "mobile suits".
This is hilarious because Fumoffu doesn't actually feature said mechs so it's the sole reference to them and they used the goddamn Gundam series name for mechs instead of just saying mechs or idk use the name they established and use in the rest of the FMP series.
(I'm sure I'm the only person who ever noticed this)
This is hilarious because Fumoffu doesn't actually feature said mechs so it's the sole reference to them and they used the goddamn Gundam series name for mechs instead of just saying mechs or idk use the name they established and use in the rest of the FMP series.
(I'm sure I'm the only person who ever noticed this)
In my native tongue, it's basically just the names of some medicines, and sometimes using google as a verb. There are also words that used to be product names but no longer are, and some words are derived from foreign product names (styrofoam, for example) but aren't actually the same word.
In English, there are at least a couple more, like band-aid for a plaster and coke for any sort of cola drink.
In English, there are at least a couple more, like band-aid for a plaster and coke for any sort of cola drink.