help

what is the term for a word we associate with something over time. Instead of saying "Ill check the time" you say "ill check my casio" or likewise you identify something by a brand "can i have a kit kat" not "can i have a chocolate bar". What is the term for this. Thank you

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

what is the term for a word we associate with something over time. Instead of saying "Ill check the time" you say "ill check my casio" or likewise you identify something by a brand "can i have a kit kat" not "can i have a chocolate bar". What is the term for this. Thank you

After having dealt with the question for years, I have never found a very good answer to this question. When we start to call a specific type of product by a brand name, what do we call that process. Some have offered "genericizing" to describe the procerss of a brand name being applied to generic products. That would effectively describe what has happened to the brand name. But it doesn't describe what has happened to the products: they are alreadt generic. I have suggested "brandification" to describe what happens to the unnamed products.

Examples:

hoover for vaccuum cleaners in general
kleenex for facial tissues
jello for flavored gelatin
escalator for moving stairs
google for internet searches
coke for any soft drink