Paris Hilton’s “That’s Hot”

WTF?

Edison worked very hard to associate the Westinghouse name with the electric chair.

Edison used to make electrified rat traps with lead-acid batteries when he was a telegraph operator. 

One thing that pisses me off is when companies take real words and turn them into trademarks; Microsoft is VERY bad about doing this.

Or code segments.

I didn’t know that several of those were former trademarks.  Kleenex and Xerox came close to losing their trademarks.  I think that trimline is also no longer a trademark.  I am very surprised that kerosene had been a trademark.  I want a Bayer Heroin cough syrup bottle.

One thing that pisses me off is when companies take real words and turn them into trademarks; Microsoft is VERY bad about doing this.

itdontmatter- ah yes, I’d forgotten that Edison was the wag.  And I hadn’t known that linoleum was originally a trade name.  I found this info at The Straight Dope:

Some products which are still registered trademarks despite the assault on their names include AstroTurf, Baggies, Band-Aid, Beer Nuts, Breathalyzer, Brillo Pads, Dacron, Dumpster, Frisbee, Hi-Liter, Hula-Hoop, Jacuzzi, Jeep,
Jell-O, Jockey Shorts, Kitty Litter, Kleenex, Laundromat, Liquid Paper, Magic Marker,
Muzak, Novocain, Ping-Pong, Play-Doh, Popsicle, Post-it Note, Q-Tip, Realtor, Rollerblade, Scotch Tape, Scrabble, Seeing Eye (dog), Sheetrock, Slim Jim, Styrofoam, Super glue, Technicolor, Teflon, TelePrompTer, Vaseline, Velcro, and Walkman.

Words which have gone the way of “cola,” that is, former trademarks that have been ruled (legally) descriptive words, and therefore, no longer owned by the companies or individuals who invented them, include aspirin, brassiere, cellophane, corn flakes, escalator, granola, gunk, heroin, jungle gym, kerosene, linoleum, raisin bran, shredded wheat, tabloid, thermos, touch-tone, trampoline, yo-yo, and zipper.

Some of this I knew already, but others surprised me:  who would have guessed that “corn flakes” was originally a trademark?

I say duct tape rather than Duck Tape, but I say Kleenex rather than tissue.  I have been known to use the word Linoleum as a generic name.

Edison worked very hard to associate the Westinghouse name with the electric chair.  Edison made sure that the electric chair used Westinghouse’s AC current rather than Edison’s DC.

Hmmm.  I say “bandage”, not “Bandaid”, but I’ll be bloody damned before I say “plaster”, even though they say that in German: “Pflaster”.

There’s a certain amount of this genericizing of trade names in Austria too: “Scotch tape” is “Tixo”, for example.  Growing up, I can remember refrigerators being called “Frigidaires” and motorcycles “Hondas”.

An example of a company complaining about such genericization of trade names: after the electric chair was invented, it was necessary to invent a word meaning “executed by means of electricity”.  One wag suggested “Westinghoused”.  Westinghouse was not amused.

in Britain usually known as Gaffer Tape – can fix any thing, radiator hoses, TVs, Space Shuttles.

Quick and easy play sword using metal-look tape.
3ft length of pipe insulation, cut of approx 9 inches.
On the short bit wrap gaffer/duck tape around one end. Split the foam from the other end to the edge of the gaffer to make a sort of Y shape- the tube is already split on one side, so you only have to do the other.
Put the split around the long bit just over a hand’s width from the end.
Tape other end of short bit to close.
Wrap tape around cross part- top left to bottom right and top right to bottom left to hold in place.
Wrap tape around the tubing to give metalic look.
Stiffen if you wish, but make sure what ever you use can’t come out the end.
Easiest birthday part ever organised- ten sword, 10 simple tabards, no more organisation needed as 9 year old boys KNOW what is supposed to happen…     

just as proper to call it Duck Tape as it is to use Bandaid or Kleenex as generic terms.

Actually no- in careful English you use the generic, vacuum not Hoover etc,plus if the manufacturer thinks you have cast their product in a bad light they demand you use the real generic term- .  The satirical magazine Private Eye received a complaint from Portakabin about this.  The printed the letter, with no apology, but spent the rest of the letters pages titling other letters to poke fun at such a trivial complaint.

Took Friday off, and in 3 days have stripped the wall paper, relined, and painted the walls, plus ceiling and wood work.  Plus I had to move a socket.  Does that win me this weekend’s “Manly Man award”? (Supporting eveidence- last week end I broke up a concrete path with pick axe and sledge hammer, puuting the rubble in a 15ftx 18in x 18in trench I dug to form the footing of a low wall- work is less physical than my weekends)

“Duck Tape” and “Duct Tape” are both proper terms for that sort of tape.  “Duck Tape” is a brand name and it is just as proper to call it Duck Tape as it is to use Bandaid or Kleenex as generic terms.

Ironically, the common plastic/fabric “duct tape” does not work very well for sealing heating ducts.

I use a metal duct tape for sealing ducts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duct_tape

Oops- I reread the list, and I haven’t performed CPR, just took a course as Les did.

Hmmm… with the exception of the computer stuff and the bolt-action rifle cleaning (which, like Hussar, I could probably do with instruction, also being a hands-on manly man), I’ve done everything on the list.

After all these internet tests, I’m waiting for the one called “Which Internet Test Are You?”.  You know- with answers like “you are a test that shows what point of the compass you are” or “you are a test that asks what kind of silly things you count on your way to work”.

Re duct tape- I had a coworker who was punctilious about pronunciation, and every time I said, lazily eliding the conjunct t’s, “ducktape”, she corrected me, saying “duct_tape, with an audible pause between the t’s.  Finally I proposed a truce: since we couldn’t agree on pronunciation, we needed a new name for the tape.  I proposed “quack”.  Was this evil?

Earlier in my life I repaired my cars and trucks myself; I learned it from my dad who is a mechanic and I am good at it.  I have overhauled engines and done other heavy repairs.  I was very good at rebuilding carburetors and tuning engines back when such things were necessary. 

I got older, and at the current point in my life I prefer to take my truck to a local repair shop that I trust.  Oil changes I have done at a *Lube place.  I still change things like light bulbs (including dashboard lights), hoses, and such; I also install stereos and other electronic shit myself.  Out of habit I have tools and a few emergency parts, including hoses and a fan belt, in a bed mounted toolbox on my truck.