Comments on: Weekend Word Wrap: when one word will do

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:57:44 +0000

How about Levi’s for any kind of jeans?

By: Kaitie

Kaitie — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:10:15 +0000

Whoever left the explanation of “bubbler,” thank you! I started going to school in Milwaukee last year, and the bubbler phenomenon totally baffled me. It all makes sense now!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:53:01 +0000

The favorite swimsuit of men who should not wear them, aka the Speedo, is trademarked; as is the Drumstick ice cream cone.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:57:30 +0000

On the Southern “Coke” thing: If what you want is the actual brand, just ask for a “Co-Cola” (its how we hayseeds pronounce Coca-Cola)

Duck Tape is a brand of duct tape. But how can you tell to which a person is referring when speaking? Yellow pages is another. They keep trying to differentiate brands, but everyone says yellow pages.

Completely off topic – Thanks for using my quote for the “Happy Hour” post. I feel kinda honoured to have helped inspire the new name, : )

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:31:09 +0000

Just to add my vote to the poll, I grew up & still live in Texas, & I’ve always called all softs drink cokes. If I want an actual Coca-cola, I’ll ask for a Coca-cola (although to be honest, RC is way better).

By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:04:45 +0000

“Coke” isn’t used as a generic term for soft drinks as often (or as widely) as it once was in the south. I grew up in Georgia in the 1970s, and it was widespread. But by the time I moved north in the 1990s, it wasn’t as common.

I presume it was more common in Georgia since that’s where Coca-Cola was invented, and thus the oldest people might have remembered a time when Coke was the only carbonated beverage available (or at least the predominant one).

But yes, I remember this type of conversation many times growing up:

“I’m fixin’ to run down to the store. Can I get you something?”

“Sure, a Coke.”

“What kind?”

“Mountain Dew.”

By: Tdave

Tdave — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:15:27 +0000

I went to my garage to get a certain tool and realized “Hey, Channellocks fits this thread!”

What my dictionary calls “arc joint pliers” are commonly called “Channellocks” which is a brand name.

Then there’s “Vise-Grips” (a brand name) that everybody seems to call their locking pliers.

By: scoobnut

scoobnut — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:26:57 +0000

A couple people have said that ‘Coke’ is used for all soft-drinks in the south. I live in NC, and I’ve never heard it used in that context. The general term around here is ’soda’ (never ‘pop’), and when you ask for a Coke, you get a Coca-cola. If a restaurant carries Pepsi products, they’ll tell you.

Same with say, Sprite and Sierra Mist. My brother usually orders Sprite, and the last several times we’ve eaten out, he’s been told all they had was Sierra Mist. So, yesterday he ordered a SM, and was asked if Sprite was okay.

Others:
~Jell-o for any gelatin dessert
~Advil for any brand Ibuprofen (Motrin is another, but it is a generic name as well as a brand name)
~Benadryl for anything with diphenhydramine in it (the trademark is owned by Pfizer)

Also worth noting is the difference between a taco in the States and the original Mexican taco, which is supposed to be on a soft tortilla shell.

By: SB

SB — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:21:37 +0000

Being from Michigan, we always called our soft drinks “pop” which works great for me, but living in the South now I’m always at a loss for what to ask for. Because of the ‘all soft drinks are Coke’ phenomenon I’ve taken to asking “do you have Coke or Pepsi” before making my decision, as I like Diet Coke and not Diet Pepsi…
And the iPod thing drives me nuts, being one of the people who has an MP3 player that is NOT made by Apple. I love my Nomad and it drives me nuts if people say “iPod” for all players.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:08:09 +0000

At my first newspaper job, I was surprised to get a stern letter from the Jaws of Life company after I wrote a caption saying EMTs used the Jaws of Life to rescue two car accident survivors. I did know that Jaws of Life is a trademark, and I capitalized it; what I didn’t know is that there are knockoffs, and the gizmo in the photo was a knockoff. They weren’t happy I’d applied their trademark to a knockoff.

To this day I don’t know what to properly call the generic versions. “Auto-accident extraction devices”?