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Subject:Re: Product names as adjectives? From:Richard Rogers <rogers_r -at- BSIWIZARD -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 4 Jun 1997 08:30:26 -0400
On Tuesday, June 3, Matt Ion wrote:
>An example that came immediately to my mind is Xerox. It's used
>generically all the time, both as an an adjective ("Here, xerox these
>papers for the boss...") and as a noun ("Take these xeroxes to the
>boss...").
>I don't recall ever hearing of the Xerox people complaining about this.
And now I shall date myself...
Back during the Watergate hearings, the chairman of the Senate
committee (name escapes me) flung a piece of paper at one of his
staffers and said "Xerox this for me." This was on national television.
The very next day, Xerox had full page ads in all the major newspapers.
(I saw one in the New York Times.) They wanted the world to know that
you can "Ask for a Xerox brand photo copy", "Not all copies are
by Xerox", "Ask for it by name", etc.
>If nothing else, it's made their name a household term.
They did not want their name to go the way of Kleenex. There was
some discussion in the business sections that once a name is used
that way, and becomes part of the everyday language, the owner
of the name may loose exclusive rights to it, if they are not careful.
If the name becomes too much of a household name, then people
do not remember the original owner of that name and see every
photocopy as a xerox (lowercase 'x').
Rick Rogers rogers_r -at- bsiwizard -dot- com
Data/Documentation Specialist
WizTec, Inc.
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