All the same. Xerox that is of my making. Copy that originated as radio slang for messages between control towers and/or aircraft.
Xerox maintains copyright of the name Xerox and prefers people call their copies, photocopies not xeroxes. When you go to your Hewlett Packard copy machine, you should not say "I'm going to be back soon after I xerox these papers". You should say "I'm going to be back soon after I copy these papers." Trademark hell for sure. Free advertisement but your brand disappears for everyone to use to advertise their brand.
The real topic of this post is when brand names become terms for a product is usually when there is a verb using the word.
Like, google "your question".
Or,
Velcro
Taser - that smarts
Cellophane - Brits say clingfilm
Rollerblade
Mace
Hulahoop
Band Aid
Chlorox
Then there is using the brand name as the noun of the object
Kleenex
Scotch tape
Crockpot
Tampon
Dumpster
Jacuzzi
All of the brands above have their brand name or trademark copyright protected. So don't invent a product and plan to call it any of those things.
In my home, we call a popular object buttons. We lose our buttons. We ask each other if they know where the buttons are.
Some brands that have long become generic are
zip code
aspirin
kerosene
mimeograph
dry ice
escalator
heroin
lanolin
thermos
trampoline
videotape - soon to be obsolete
Anyway, buttons is what we call our remote control. Now what do you call the small cardboard tube at the center of a toilet paper roll or the ends of a loaf of bread?
informative post
ReplyDeletel call ends of bread heels. this was fun to read!
ReplyDeleteBetty
Heel and toilet paper roll
ReplyDeleteThe cat calls the toilet paper tube something that won't shred, get a new roll. Kinda wordy, I know.
ReplyDeleteI call those garbage and toss them.
ReplyDeleteI like Alex's comment! I don't think I have a name for either of those things!
ReplyDeleteI don't call them anything and throw them away. The ends of the bread are the heel.
ReplyDeletemy momma was from Scottsboro Alabama.
ReplyDeleteCreative post! The t.p. tube is the "roller" and the ends of a bread loaf are "heels". I have Southern (U.S.) roots.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how brand names can impose such influences. Thoughtful take Ann!
ReplyDeleteHank
Hand me a kleenex, we're down to the heels. They need a new roll in that zip code!
ReplyDelete