brands becoming nouns

Question

In Mexico we say resistol and and lately pritt instead of pegamento when meaning glue. I realized about 25 years later that resistol is a brand and not the noun for meaning glue. Do you have more examples?

Answer 1

Kleenex = tissues

Dumpster = trash bin

Brassiere = woman's underwear

Escalator = moving stairs

Band-Aid = adhesive bandage

All of these are brand names that have been so accepted by the public that they use them as nouns.

¡Changos! ¡Cómo que brassiere es una marca? - AntMexico, Apr 9, 2010

In 1904, the Charles R. DeBevoise Company first labeled a woman's bra-like garment a 'brassiere.' - --Mariana--, Apr 9, 2010

Pues creo que muchos como yo ni se han dado cuenta y a diferencia de España acá es poco usual decir "sujetador", decimos "brasier" - AntMexico, Apr 9, 2010

Answer 2

BVD's - men's underwear (don't know if it is used much now, but if you're old enough to use the expression 'back in the day' - you may remember it)

Answer 3

The same can be said for brands being turned into verbs.

Who would have thought that "google" would become a verb?

As far as nouns...

Pampers (diapers)

Chevy ( I believe this model is used more as a noun than any other type of car.)

Google is excellent! Not sure of Chevy, though. - LateToDinner, May 27, 2010

It might be more colloquial. - Nicole-B, May 27, 2010

Answer 4

American "scotch-tape" ("cello" for the Brits) and British "biro" ("ball-point pen" for the Colonials).

Answer 5

En el sur a veces se dicen "Coke" para cualquier bebida con gas.

"¿Quieres un Coke?"

"Claro."

"¿Bueno, qué tipo quieres? Hay Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper..."

In the south they sometimes use "Coke" to mean any carbonated beverage.

"Do you want a Coke?"

"Sure."

"Okay, what kind do you want? They have Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper...

Very interesting! but in the south of the U.S.? - AntMexico, Apr 9, 2010

Yes, I was raised in the South (USA) where all colas were Cokes. When I used to go to Burger King (uses Pepsi) I had to explain that when I ordered a Coke, hamburger, and fries that I meant a cola and Pepsi rather than Coca Cola was fine. - 0074b507, Apr 9, 2010

jjejeje, tha t is really funny - 00494d19, Apr 9, 2010

Yup. That's the way it is down here. :-) And, Coca-cola can be pronounced "co-coler" as in "I'll have me one of them there co-colers." Other colas include rc-coler and pepsi-coler. - webdunce, May 27, 2010

Answer 6

"Refrigerator" was a brand now is common as the place to put your beer. I have been told that in England a certain rubber product that men sometimes use are called by their brand name,or so I am informed.

You're thinking of "fridge" (from Frigidaire). 'refrigerator' is just a word. - samdie, Apr 10, 2010

Trojans? jejejeje - chica_rica, May 27, 2010

The other one is "Durex" - ian-hill, May 27, 2010

Answer 7

Guau !! Muy marvalliso . Nunca sabré que Dumpster y Escalator y Band-Aid son marcas y no los productos.

Answer 8

The 2 most famous have been mentioned, Kleenex and Xerox, and I just saw Hoover for the first time today and here it is on 2 different threads. We had a Hoover, but we either vacuumed the floor or "ran the vacuum over the floor!"

But back to Brands: most kids only know gelatin as Jello.

Windex (regardless of who really makes yours).

Fritos for corn chips, at least in my neck of the woods.

Cardigan (I suspect there are many, many other clothing examples)

Since we already have an "X", someone could start an A-Z thing!

Answer 9

¿Alguién sabe si "bilé" (pintalabios) es marca o quizá un apellido o nombre personal de origen francés?

Answer 10

Some English ones:

to Hoover = to vacuum clean

to Xerox = to copy

pritt comes from Prittstick.

maybe more will occur to me later.