Coke, kleenex, xerox
HELP! I understand that coke, kleenex and xerox are examples of synecdoches, but I believe that there is a word for the specific kind of synecdoche where a brand name has come to mean the generic name for a product. This search has been driving me moderately insane. Any help you can give will be truly appreciated by myself, my family, and my pharmacist.
jasonswolpers
January 20, 2011, 10:30pm
I sent this reply 4 years ago and the link has been broken since then. Here is a new link. http://www.rinkworks.com/words/eponyms.shtml
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lastkat83
November 14, 2009, 10:58am
I knew it was only a matter of time before we'd see this happen; I just didn't think we'd see...
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AO (unregistered)
May 29, 2007, 9:49pm
Hey, thanks Jason Wolpers, really interesting and surprising (to me) link.
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Jason Wolpers (unregistered)
May 29, 2007, 10:23am
They are called proprietary eponyms.
Heres the link to most of them:
http://www.prairienet.org/~rkrause/brands.html
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speedwell2
January 11, 2005, 8:10am
Sol, the word for what is going on when a brand name becomes a standard English term seems to be "genericide," oddly enough. http://www.wordspy.com/words/genericide.asp
The most commonly used phrase for such a term appears to be "generic word."
There is some consensus on these new words, but no hard-and-fast rule. Language is like that.
And why is your pharmacist upset? He's making a profit. Maybe there are some other issues there. (just kidding) :)
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ladylucy (unregistered)
January 11, 2005, 6:57am
Here, someone asks basically the same question:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/meponym.html
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