One of the weird things about American culture is the tendency to refer to things by brand name, as opposed to the product name.
For example, I’ve known people to say Kleenex when they meant tissue. I’ve heard people use Hoover instead of vacuum.
And it gets to a point with certain things that some people can’t distinguish the difference.
Weedwhacker is a brand. How many people know the real term is “string trimmer”? Jell-O is a brand. And it’s so pervasive that people call literally any gelatin dessert “jello” even if it’s not made by Jell-O. Tupperware! That’s a brand!
The one thing that constantly messes with my head, though:
DUMPSTER IS A BRAND.
AND I HAVE GENUINELY NO IDEA WHAT TO CALL A DUMPSTER OTHER THAN A DUMPSTER.
we call them skips if that helps
Oh yeah that’s a tip
if it makes you feel any better it’s not just americans who do it and also corporations hate it because if a brand name becomes generic enough they lose the trademark
you can just call a dumpster a dumpster, it’s ok
Yet another reason why “to photoshop” should be a verb. Because adobe can suck my ass.
official linguistics post
