--- Ellis Godard <egodard@csun.edu> wrote:
Thanks to Alex, Paul, Dominic, and Terry for the posts which were interesting, but seemed to miss the point: I'm aware of ListServ and its history, but am interested in when and how the brand name was appropriated as a common noun. (Think Levi's, Band-Aid, Kleenex, Kodak, Coke, and Tivo. There's a word for this I learned in 7th grade, but can't remember - and neither can my 7th grade teacher, whom I re-ask every few years just in case. Whatever it is, it's an important word. Maybe I should sniglet a new one.)
Perhaps it should have been clearer, but the history suggests that listserve seems to have been a _generic_ that was appropriated as a brand and registered name, rather than the reverse. Perhaps Volkswagen is an example of a generic being appropriated in a similar way - and maybe Smirnoff for vodka; Churchill for cigar (or tank). There must be others that assiduous googling would uncover. Oh, and wasn't aspirin originally a Bayer (fka I.G. Farben AG) brand name? And nylon (and others) a brand name of ICI (or Mond, its predecessor company)? Think then of others? See also some related references: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3006486.stm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/04/AR2006080401... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_%28verb%29 http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v04/0419.html It's generally as you highlight the other way around - the brand name becoming synonymous with all similar products. In the UK to hoover was in such popular usage that it became the generic name for vacuum cleaning and cleaners; PA systems generally called Tannoy; colas of all sorts - coke (but assiduously policed and pursued by Coca Cola licensee representatives and legal hot shots). Other examples are fridge (Frigidaire); Google (as in web search); Scotch Tape or in the UK Sellotape; Elastoplast (in the U.S. BandAid); Post-Its; zippers, thermos, escalator, elevator, Some may be examples of rather blatant 'passing off', others a failure to protect/enforce intellectual property rights effectively lost any proprietary rights. An example of a generic term being (in)appropriated as a trade name/mark is Linux http://www.tuxdeluxe.org/node/107 And of course the humble apple was appropriated by 2 different corporations! All the best Dominic Dominic Pinto http://www.ecademy.com/user/dominicpinto http://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicpinto Live or work in, or visit Covent Garden and Westminster? Check out http://www.westmin.co.uk/index.php e-m: dominic.pinto@ieee.org Skype: zorrodp M: +44 780 302-8268 Ph: +44 207 379-8341 In the U.S. M/Cell: +1 215 667-3001