4 ms·

Here in the UK Macintosh is still genericized as a rain coat.

S_A_P 7y ago
It took me a long time to figure that out as a kid. Listening to Beatles songs with lyrics like “the man in the Mac said you gotta go back” or “the banker never wears a Mac “ I had no idea what that was.
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  Isn’t that mackintosh spelled with a k?
  - toyg 7y ago
    Do you spell all words while talking? ;)
- fredley 7y ago
  Often referred to as a 'Plastic Mac' (extra confusing during the early noughties era). See also: 'Mac in a Sac': https://www.macinasac.com/ https://www.macinasac.com/
  - OJFord 7y ago
    Not heard of that, but 'pac-a-mac' is the (I believe generic) term I grew up with.
- quakeguy 7y ago
  Also the dirty Mac comes to mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dirty_Mac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dirty_Mac
  - Merrill 7y ago
    And Fleetwood Mac.
    - jacobolus 7y ago
      Fleetwood Mac has nothing to do with raincoats. > The Bluesbreakers then consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental that Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac" ("Mac" being short for McVie).
Fnoord 7y ago
McIntosh [1] is a type of Apple. At [1] you can also read about McIntosh ("McIntosh Laboratories") the hi-fi brand [2]. My father was an audiophile, and had various McIntosh hardware (pre-amplifier, tuner, oscilloscope, ...). Apple named the Mac after the Apple but deliberately misspelled it as "Macintosh" to avoid confusion with the hi-fi brand. As I grew up with the hardware from McIntosh (Laboratories), that'll for me always be real McIntosh. Even though the real one is the apple genus. ..and then there's "Big Mac". I'm not sure where that got its name from, nor if it has anything to do with McIntosh (labs or apple). It was innovated before the Mac was invented though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) [2] https://www.mcintoshlabs.com https://www.mcintoshlabs.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Laboratory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Laboratory
- vzidex 7y ago
  For the Big Mac, I'm guessing it went Big McDonald -> Big Mc -> Big Mac
adrianmonk 7y ago
That's Mackintosh with a "k", isn't it? At least, wikipedia says (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackintosh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackintosh) this is the standard spelling of it. Although it also says its inventor was a Charles Macintosh (no "k").

It took me a long time to figure that out as a kid. Listening to Beatles songs with lyrics like “the man in the Mac said you gotta go back” or “the banker never wears a Mac “ I had no idea what that was.

selimthegrim 7y ago
Isn’t that mackintosh spelled with a k?
- toyg 7y ago
  Do you spell all words while talking? ;)
fredley 7y ago
Often referred to as a 'Plastic Mac' (extra confusing during the early noughties era). See also: 'Mac in a Sac': https://www.macinasac.com/ https://www.macinasac.com/
- OJFord 7y ago
  Not heard of that, but 'pac-a-mac' is the (I believe generic) term I grew up with.
quakeguy 7y ago
Also the dirty Mac comes to mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dirty_Mac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dirty_Mac
- Merrill 7y ago
  And Fleetwood Mac.
  - jacobolus 7y ago
    Fleetwood Mac has nothing to do with raincoats. > The Bluesbreakers then consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie and Green recorded five songs. The fifth song was an instrumental that Green named after the rhythm section, "Fleetwood Mac" ("Mac" being short for McVie).

Fnoord 7y ago

McIntosh [1] is a type of Apple. At [1] you can also read about McIntosh ("McIntosh Laboratories") the hi-fi brand [2]. My father was an audiophile, and had various McIntosh hardware (pre-amplifier, tuner, oscilloscope, ...). Apple named the Mac after the Apple but deliberately misspelled it as "Macintosh" to avoid confusion with the hi-fi brand. As I grew up with the hardware from McIntosh (Laboratories), that'll for me always be real McIntosh. Even though the real one is the apple genus. ..and then there's "Big Mac". I'm not sure where that got its name from, nor if it has anything to do with McIntosh (labs or apple). It was innovated before the Mac was invented though. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_(apple) [2] https://www.mcintoshlabs.com https://www.mcintoshlabs.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Laboratory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McIntosh_Laboratory

vzidex 7y ago
For the Big Mac, I'm guessing it went Big McDonald -> Big Mc -> Big Mac

adrianmonk 7y ago

That's Mackintosh with a "k", isn't it? At least, wikipedia says (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackintosh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackintosh) this is the standard spelling of it. Although it also says its inventor was a Charles Macintosh (no "k").