Reply
Fri 4 Aug, 2006 07:37 am
that describes the situation where a common word or phase becomes archaic but stays in common dialogue. For example, we still go to record stores but there are no records. We dial the telephone (or change the dial on the TV) but there are no dials.
Also, what's the term for a vendor-specific brand that comes to represent the product in general, such as Kleenex for facial tissue?
Interesting.
I found this:
Quote:An eponym is someone or something whose name is or is thought to be the source of something's name (such as a city, country, era, or product); alternately it can be used to refer to the name of something that is based on or derived from someone or something else's name. Albert Einstein is the eponym of the element einsteinium; conversely, einsteinium is an eponym of Albert Einstein.
There are many different types of eponyms, especially in scientific fields. Theories, laws, equations, proofs, and elements often have their eponyms in the people that first discovered or proved them.
Proprietary eponyms are another matter entirely. These are general words that are, or were at one time, proprietary brand names or service marks. Kleenex, for example, is a brand of facial tissues, yet the word is used today to refer to facial tissues of any brand. Xerox is a brand of photocopy machine; that word, too, has been since adopted to refer to any brand of photocopy machine and, moreover, also employed as a verb to describe the act of photocopying. As this illustrates, although brand names are proper adjectives (as in, "Kleenex facial tissues"), when such terms are adopted for general use they tend to become nouns and often also verbs.
Now I will wait for someone to answer the first part of your question!
Re: Is there a word
J_B wrote:...where a common word or phase becomes archaic but stays in common dialogue. For example, we still go to record stores but there are no records. We dial the telephone (or change the dial on the TV) but there are no dials.
Wikipedia classifies this under "misnomer" (or, more elaborately, a "metaphorical extension" resulting in a misnomer), though something tells me there is a term that exists for this specific case...
J_B wrote:Also, what's the term for a vendor-specific brand that comes to represent the product in general, such as Kleenex for facial tissue?
"proprietary eponym"
Let's invent a word for this. The word is "Grepel".
Re: Is there a word
Shapeless wrote:J_B wrote:Also, what's the term for a vendor-specific brand that comes to represent the product in general, such as Kleenex for facial tissue?
"proprietary eponym"
Wikipedia offers a very interesting
List of generic and genericized trademarks - worldwide.
Very interesting. I saw "SPAM" on the list of non-genericized trademarks and got to wondering what the makers of SPAM think of the appropriation of their name to denote email crap. A stroll through the Wikipedia links turned up this answer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28electronic%29#History
We catch a steamer but it's not steam-driven
We catch a cab but it's a taxi
We visit a barber but he doesn't trim our beard
We use the bathroom but we don't take a bath
Quote:that describes the situation where a common word or phase becomes archaic but stays in common dialogue. For example, we still go to record stores but there are no records. We dial the telephone (or change the dial on the TV) but there are no dials.
well there is antiquated, which is exactly what you're talking about, except that is normally used when talking about procedure rather than a word
misnomer isn't right, it merely means that the word means something other than what it is apparently named for, has nothing to do with why it got that way
You go for a sail, but your boat is driven by an engine.
Last night I was painstakingly straightening out the page corners of a library book. Once upon a time "dog earing", bending down the corner of a page of a book, used to be an acceptable way to mark one's place in the book.
Dog earing is no longer respectable and "dog eared copy" doesn't make much sense to the younger generation.
"Donkey-ears" - which is the equivalent of that in German - is still common here: the twin sister of our godchild (10 years) got books from us yeatser as birthday present .... and was glad that a marker was added as gimmick, so she didn't have to make 'dog earings' ...
Quote:Dog earing is no longer respectable and "dog eared copy" doesn't make much sense to the younger generation.
Nah, dog earing is still in common use with the younger generation..
Quote:Nah, dog earing is still in common use with the younger generation..
Once again, I'm disillusioned.
At least the younger generation is reading.
In the UK the floors get HOOVERED---------- not vacuumed & certainly no Electroluxed
Is there a word
McTag, you posted:
"We catch a cab but it's a taxi."
In fact, "cab" and "taxi" are the same thing. The older form is taxi-cab, and the "cab" is short for "cabriolet".
More in Wikipedia, s.v. "cabriolet".
stuh505 wrote:Quote:Dog earing is no longer respectable and "dog eared copy" doesn't make much sense to the younger generation.
Nah, dog earing is still in common use with the younger generation..
I think earrings look silly on most dogs, commonly used or not.
I have seen the use of brand names -- Kleenex, Davenport, Frigidaire -- used as classification names called a grammatical error on the one hand and a sign of a lack of sophistication on the other.
I believe that calling their use "grammatically incorrect" is erroneous, and referring to their use as indicating "lack of sophistication" is itself somewhat "fuddyduddyish".
flyboy -- Think what you want.
plainoldme,
I knew there was something niggling at the back of my mind about your handle. It's this:
Remove the "l" and replace it with an "r". Now your name works perfectly as an anagram of "palindrome".
Tell me - knowing that made your day, didn't it?
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace