Many a trademark word has slipped into the language as a noun–asprin and bandaid being two of the most obvious. However, when telling someone to “google it,” I wondered how many became verbs?
Xerox did, but few people xerox anymore. Occasionally I hear someone say “scotchtape it.” Those are the only three I can think of.
Are there any others?
Not quite as common as what you’re looking for but mechanical types often “loctite” threads on screws, bolts, etc. Probably there are more examples of this from the workplace than from home.
Would “phoning” someone - a truncated form of “telephone” - count?
Using a vacuum cleaner has become known as ‘hoovering’ - I’ve even heard kids back-form ‘hoover’, interpreting it as ‘a machine that hooves - a hoover’, and say things like “can we hoove up these crumbs?”
Photoshop.
I’ve also been asked by co-workers to “PDF” something. That is, convert a document to PDF format. Bugs the hell out of me, but I keep my mouth shut.
Rollerblading.
Wouldn’t that be a gerund?
To jet-ski, to TiVo, to wite-out.
By back-formation: to osterize.
Swiffer.
I was going to say “Google” for “use an internet search engine”, but since nobody seems to use anything else now…
FedEx.
I’ve used Saran Wrap as a verb. “Are you going to saran wrap the leftovers?”
As much as the company tries to keep the trademark from becoming a verb, I do Xerox things.
Was telephone ever a trademark? I don’t think it was.
As for my contribution: I’ve seen Western Union used as a verb to send money via Western Union, e.g. “I will Western Union you $200.”
ETA: And I’m amazed that nobody has mentioned spam, although that verb has nothing to do with the product.
To windsurf
To hoover
Are you going to bubble wrap that crystal before sending it?
You look half asleep. Did you get Botoxed?
Lawyers hate it when that happens (Google’s lawyers complained when an episode of ER used “to google” as a verb), as it weakens the companies rights to the brand.
To sellotape.
To myspace.
To msn.