# Generic terms that replaced the brand name **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676 "2019-05-28T22:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/42 "2019-05-31T12:18:15Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > That’s still what I call it. Being overseas, I didn’t get the memo. > > I had a perfect example in Japanese, but I forgot it. Dammit. If I remember, I’ll post it. > > A not so perfect example, but similar was that Japanese often called all foreigners “Americans” in the early 80s and the language foreigners spoke “English” but as the awareness that there are other countries in the world led more people to use “foreigners” and “foreign language.” Kind of like how in large parts of Asia, the word for “foreigner” is some form of “Firang,” which derives from a term that originally meant “Frankish.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/43 "2019-05-31T12:49:40Z")
**Adrenaline** It’s the trademark name for epinephrine. **Google** has pretty much taken the “Kleenex” route **Zipper** is also a trade name first used by B.F. Goodrich. It’s properly a “slide fastener” Here’s a Wikipedia list of tradenames that have gone generic: > **[List of generic and genericized trademarks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks)** > > The following three lists of generic and genericized trademarks are: > The following partial list contains marks which were originally legally protected trademarks, but which have subsequently lost legal protection as trademarks by becoming the common name of the relevant product or service, as used both by the consuming public and commercial competitors. These marks were determined in court to have become generic. Some marks retain trademark protection in certain countries despite being declare... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/44 "2019-05-31T14:40:53Z")
The current thread on “[salad cream](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=876323)” reminded me that there isn’t really a good generic term for Miracle Whip. It’s a brand of what they call “salad dressing,” but the term “salad dressing” is much more commonly used for the stuff you pour on salad. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/45 "2019-05-31T18:30:14Z")
The first two that came to mind were aspirin and Xerox (for photocopying). The third was Q-Tip; in fact, I remember a commercial for a competing brand that had one person about to call it a Q-Tip when another interrupted with, “It’s a cotton swab.” ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/46 "2019-05-31T20:25:17Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I still hear “Astroturf” used, but only in a non-literal meaning. There was some confusion when my kids were younger, when they mentioned the surface of a playing field was “turf,” and I said that no, it was fake. Apparently “turf” has switched teams. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/47 "2019-06-12T23:53:47Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > As a kid we always called it “Saranwrap”. Now it’s just plastic wrap. And boy, does the word “wrap” ever look strange if you look at it enough. > > StG > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > That’s still what I call it. Being overseas, I didn’t get the memo. That’s all I’ve known it as IRL, but on cooking shows with foreign chefs using it for something, they’ll call it “cling film” which I just find silly. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676/48 "2019-06-13T04:31:58Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Like **DorkVader** I always believed the term Bendix to refer to an automobile starter motor component. Unlike **DorkVader** it did not refer to the starter gear (that was simply a "“gear”), but the assembly which forced the starter gear away from the electric motor (towards the flywheel) when the starter motor was turning faster than the starter gear (as when starting the engine) and away from the flywheel (towards the starter motor) when the starter gear was turning faster than the starter motor (as when the engine caught). This disengaged the gear from the flywheel once the engine had started and the device that allowed that to happen was (or, still is, AFAIK) “the bendix”. Yep. That’s a Bendix. Sometimes, one could just replace it instead of the whole starter assembly. BTW, for a bit of historical sylvan advertising, search for Bendix Woods Park on Google maps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-terms-that-replaced-the-brand-name/834676.md?page=2)