6 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize... Aspirin, cellophane, k

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize... Aspirin, cellophane, kleenex, thermos, band-aid, crock pot, jacuzzi, photoshop, etc.

georgyo 9y ago
Shocking to me is that Tylenol is missing from that page. You hardly ever hear it called acetaminophen, even in hospitals. Edit: Even the main Tylenol page links is ambiguous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylenol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylenol It's a wiki, so I'll guess I'll add it.
- keithnz 9y ago
  I think it's just a US thing, we (NZ) refer to it as paracetamol or the equivalent brand name "Panadol", the others are more globally used.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
    I wish it was more clear. There are three main widely available OTC medications that broadly cover main categories such as pain reliever, fever reducer, etc: Ibuprofen (known colloquially more commonly as Motrin or Advil in the US) Acetaminophen (also known by chemical name paracetemol outside of the US and brand name Tylenol in US) Acetylsalicylic acid (also known as Aspirin, was previously a trademark but now a generic name) I always try to avoid using the brand names in favor of the actual chemical names to dodge ambiguity and confusion (there are other brand names for acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid, and ibuprofen over the ones I have listed even in the US), but even then in the case of acetaminophen it cannot be avoided. Further compounding (pun intended?) difficulty is trying to pronounce acetylsalicylic acid to the layman instead of just saying "Aspirin". In the US at least, you can get away with saying ibuprofen vs "Motrin" and acetaminophen vs "Tylenol", but the Aspirin problem is a bit more of a difficult hurdle to overcome in terms of layman's communication. Slightly tangentially, when referring to airports I even have the same problem. I always try to go by IATA airport code, but those apparently have ambiguities as well: AUS is the IATA airport code for Austin-Bergstrom, but in ICAO terms it's actually known as KAUS, presumably to avoid conflict with other airports outside the US who might also answer to the callsign "AUS"
veritas3241 9y ago
I always found it interesting that zipper was a trademarked and then genericized name. Mainly b/c it's a verb that accurately describes what the product does.
- SilasX 9y ago
  Actually, as best I can tell, "zip[per]" didn't have that meaning (combine two lines in succession at some moving point of contact) until the product existed, so the verb only exists because of the product. Before that, it just meant "move quickly". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ZIP http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ZIP
MichaelGG 9y ago
The Aspirin trademark, along with Heroin, was stolen from them after WW1.
sillysaurus3 9y ago
Photoshop refers to Photoshop, made by Adobe. The rest are accurate though.
- realusername 9y ago
  Photoshop is clearly a generic name nowadays, you can say that you photoshopped an image regardless of the software itself.
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    I think it was intended to be a list of generic names whose company isn't in an overwhelmingly superior position. Adobe Photoshop is still the >95% dominant image editor.
darkmarmot 9y ago
Well, in terms of profit/revenue, Photoshop still absolutely dominates to my knowledge. Latest stat I could find was 90% in 2010. http://www.dispatch.com/article/20100301/NEWS/303019733 http://www.dispatch.com/article/20100301/NEWS/303019733

georgyo 9y ago

Shocking to me is that Tylenol is missing from that page. You hardly ever hear it called acetaminophen, even in hospitals. Edit: Even the main Tylenol page links is ambiguous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylenol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tylenol It's a wiki, so I'll guess I'll add it.

keithnz 9y ago
I think it's just a US thing, we (NZ) refer to it as paracetamol or the equivalent brand name "Panadol", the others are more globally used.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 9y ago
  I wish it was more clear. There are three main widely available OTC medications that broadly cover main categories such as pain reliever, fever reducer, etc: Ibuprofen (known colloquially more commonly as Motrin or Advil in the US) Acetaminophen (also known by chemical name paracetemol outside of the US and brand name Tylenol in US) Acetylsalicylic acid (also known as Aspirin, was previously a trademark but now a generic name) I always try to avoid using the brand names in favor of the actual chemical names to dodge ambiguity and confusion (there are other brand names for acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid, and ibuprofen over the ones I have listed even in the US), but even then in the case of acetaminophen it cannot be avoided. Further compounding (pun intended?) difficulty is trying to pronounce acetylsalicylic acid to the layman instead of just saying "Aspirin". In the US at least, you can get away with saying ibuprofen vs "Motrin" and acetaminophen vs "Tylenol", but the Aspirin problem is a bit more of a difficult hurdle to overcome in terms of layman's communication. Slightly tangentially, when referring to airports I even have the same problem. I always try to go by IATA airport code, but those apparently have ambiguities as well: AUS is the IATA airport code for Austin-Bergstrom, but in ICAO terms it's actually known as KAUS, presumably to avoid conflict with other airports outside the US who might also answer to the callsign "AUS"

veritas3241 9y ago

I always found it interesting that zipper was a trademarked and then genericized name. Mainly b/c it's a verb that accurately describes what the product does.

SilasX 9y ago
Actually, as best I can tell, "zip[per]" didn't have that meaning (combine two lines in succession at some moving point of contact) until the product existed, so the verb only exists because of the product. Before that, it just meant "move quickly". http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ZIP http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ZIP

MichaelGG 9y ago

The Aspirin trademark, along with Heroin, was stolen from them after WW1.

sillysaurus3 9y ago

Photoshop refers to Photoshop, made by Adobe. The rest are accurate though.

realusername 9y ago
Photoshop is clearly a generic name nowadays, you can say that you photoshopped an image regardless of the software itself.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  I think it was intended to be a list of generic names whose company isn't in an overwhelmingly superior position. Adobe Photoshop is still the >95% dominant image editor.

darkmarmot 9y ago

Well, in terms of profit/revenue, Photoshop still absolutely dominates to my knowledge. Latest stat I could find was 90% in 2010. http://www.dispatch.com/article/20100301/NEWS/303019733 http://www.dispatch.com/article/20100301/NEWS/303019733