Can you name the current or former trademarked brandnames that have entered everyday language as generic terms?


Painkiller, believed to prevent heart attacks		A
Adhesive bandage, used colloquially in parts of North America		B
Plastic wrap, used to keep food fresh		C
Sound recorder, primarily for later transcription		D
A transport device for carrying people between floors of a building		E
Toy, usually thrown back and forth		F
Internet search-engine		G
Vacuum cleaner brandname, used as if generic in UK and Ireland		H
Digital music player		I
Hot tub or whirlpool bath		J
Tissue paper, used as if generic in part of North America		K
Floor covering, perhaps the first brand to become a generic term		L
Small toy car		M
Chocolate/hazelnut-flavored spread		N
All-in-one infant bodysuit		O
Table tennis		P
Cotton swabs or buds		Q
Inline skates		R
Tightly fitting swimming briefs		S
Asphalt road surface, used colloquially in UK and Ireland		T
Vehicle, used when moving house, common term in North America		U
Magnetic medium used to record images and/or sound		V
Portable cassette player, now more or less superseded by digital music players		W
Photocopier or a photocopy		X
Manual spinning toy		Y
Fastener, found on clothing, luggage and other items		Z

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There are 81 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Generic Brand Names (A-Z) Quiz

by citkeane

Created Feb 13, 2012 in Language
Featured Mar 11, 2012
Game Plays 70,983

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	druhutch:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 05:08 GMT		19 points
	Good quiz. The Yo-Yo one is interesting. I wonder when it stopped being trademarked, and whether there used to be unhappy kids whose parents got them an off-brand "Manual Spinning Toy".

	HambonePA:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 05:32 GMT		50 points
	I usually end up needing aspirin and bandaids after rollerblading in my speedo.

	citkeane:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 05:43 GMT		10 points
	@HambonePA, I bet you do. Thanks for the publish and thanks to Flick for the Editor Pick.

	koopa08:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 05:46 GMT		18 points
	I always thought aspirin was always generic. I was waiting for Velcro for 'v'.

	kurokali:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 05:56 GMT		97 points
	Cellophane somehow never came to me. I kept trying variations on cling wrap and misspellings of Saran wrap.

	WeaselKing1000:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 07:21 GMT		23 points
	I tried 'clingfilm' too. I think 'zip' should be accepted for 'zipper', and 'lino' for 'linoleum'.

	KarenX:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 07:33 GMT		21 points
	Dumpster is also a brand name. True story.

	BoL:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 07:52 GMT		8 points
	Ping Pong might have been a trade name, but it was first a transliteration of the Chinese word for the game. Good quiz, though. I was waiting for "Magic Marker".

	confused:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 08:09 GMT		15 points
	I never knew that some of these (escalator, onesie, linoleum) were ever brand names. Neat.

	hodgetiger:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 08:47 GMT		14 points
	Do you think Emil Zola ever had a J'accuse i ?! (sorry!)

	Monkeylabs:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 10:05 GMT		0 points
	He needs to include Biro and Jeep!

	Rob42:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 10:13 GMT		23 points
	Excellent and fun quiz. However, I felt sure that "elevator" would be the correct answer for "e".

	Triffid:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 10:51 GMT		5 points
	Clingfilm should be accepted for C.

	RobPro:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 11:11 GMT		17 points
	I took me up until about G or H when I realised it was 'brand names'... not 'band names'...

	mrmanheim:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 11:37 GMT		34 points
	I too typed Saran wrap over and over.I remember by grandmother saying cellophane once I saw the answer, but "SARAN" wrap is a brand name that is what people call it for the last 25 years regardless of what brand they are actually buying. Also, Tarmac must be a UK thing. The only place one in US will hear of Tarmac is in relation to an airport. I was trying various spellings of Macadam (which is likely where the "-mac" in tarmac came from. Fun, though

	TaigaStar:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 12:30 GMT		12 points
	and now i learn that i've been spelling aspirin wrong my whole life.

	redhawk87:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 12:35 GMT		1 point
	tried que tips... did not work so I tried queue tips... damn school!

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	brneyedgrrl:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 12:38 GMT		15 points
	Also, I completely missed the fact that it was in alphabetical order. Totally ignored that third column. Damn you, daylight savings time!

	emh:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 12:41 GMT		32 points
	Clingflim should NOT be accepted as an alternative to cellophane. The quiz is asking for current or former brandnames. Clingfilm was never used as a current or former brandname; therefore it doesn't qualify as a correct answer. Same thing for WeasalKing1000's suggestion to accept Zip and Lino as alternatives. Why people are voting that comment up is beyond me.

	FujiMouse:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 12:45 GMT		17 points
	The cellophane one completely threw me. I'm sure this is just a British thing, but I've never heard it called anything but clingfilm. To me, cellophane is the tinted plastic stuff used for crafts in primary school.

	The_Road_Guy:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 13:13 GMT		8 points
	Saran Wrap? Zamboni?

	CornFarmer:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 13:14 GMT		23 points
	Ha! I found a new co-worker fiddling with our Xerox brand laser printer and asked what she was doing. She said she was trying to figure out how to make copies, after all, it said Xerox so it must be a copy machine. She obviously didn't realize Xerox was a brand name.

	SteveGoodman18:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 13:15 GMT		13 points
	Was waiting for my favorite - Jell-o. Jello in a jacuzzi? Great quiz to learn the origin of some words.

	spartacat:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 13:26 GMT		8 points
	I've always associated the word 'cellophane' with adhesive tape, rather than clingfilm

	tbagley:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 14:11 GMT		26 points
	i'm not sure i agree with ipod here...

	BubbaD:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 14:36 GMT		2 points
	I got Cellophane eventually, but Cling Wrap should be an acceptable answer. Clingfilm may not be a current or former brand name, but Cling Wrap is a trademarked variety of Glad brand plastic wrap and name is frequently used as a generic term.

	citkeane:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 14:52 GMT		30 points
	It seems some people are missing the point of this quiz a little. The idea is that the answers were, or are, all registered brand names that start with a certain letter of the alphabet. Saran wrap would be an acceptable answer if that clue was under S as it is a brand name, but cling film never was a brand, so it wouldn't make sense to accept that as an answer, just as @emh said. Also, with regards to accepting abbreviations, those shortened versions were never registered brand names. Sure they originate from the brand names, but unlike 'Coke' also being a registered brand name for Coca Cola, lino and zip never were.

	jodabomb24:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 15:22 GMT		17 points
	By the way, there actually is a term for these sorts of words: proprietary eponyms. Cool thing to know about.

	dancastro:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 15:29 GMT		7 points
	@Monkeylabs: probably biro for "ballpoint pen" would be easily understood by a British player but hardly by one from the US. It's curious that the same happens in Spanish: "birome" (the original brand) is the usual generic name in Argentina, but nobody in Spain, Mexico, etc., would understand it. It happens that the ballpoint pen was patented in the UK and then in Argentina, where the product was first manufactured (the brand comes from the surname of the inventor, the Hungarian László Bíró; the -me in the Argentine "birome" is from Meyne, Bíró's commercial partner).

	shakirafan:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 15:45 GMT		13 points
	@spartacat: I also associate cellophane with tape--which happens to present another of those brand names transformed into a generic term. Cellophane tape is "Scotch" tape regardless of who made it--at least here in the Upper Midwest region!

	ezois:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 15:59 GMT		2 points
	It got much easier after I noticed the letters at the right. I kept trying top for spinning toy until I saw the y. It would be a good idea to look first. :)

	Statto2:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 16:17 GMT		9 points
	Here in the UK I have heard people use "xerox" rather than "photocopy" or "photocopier", although it appears to be dying out. Matchbox was certainly a well known brand of toy car in the UK when I was a boy (I had dozens), but generally the brand name of toy car that is sometimes used as a generic term is Dinky as in "Dinky toy". "Cellophane" for me brings to mind a plastic that is less stretchy than clingfilm. I do agree that clingfilm cannot be a correct answer though, even though I did try it myself.

	Colmar:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 16:43 GMT		10 points
	I don't really think there are people who call regular MP3 players iPods. iPods are too distinct from the rest, whereas most escalators and zippers look the same.

	NCTitan:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 16:49 GMT		7 points
	Cellophane is made from wood fiber, not plastic.

	mandos:	Mar 11th, 2012 at 16:49 GMT		1 point
	I must've tried cling wrap about 5 times, bewildered that it wasn't being taken as an answer, before the actually answer popped into my head.