a pocket tissue/tissue/a pocket of tissue

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ademoglu

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Hi,

1. Can I have a pocket of tissue?
2. Can I have tissue (paper)?
3. Can I have a pocket tissue?

Which one should I say in a grocery store? I think sentence 3 is used but cannot make sure of the others.

Thanks.
 
Do you want to blow your nose?

'Can I have a tissue, please?'

What has being in a grocery store got to do with it?
 
Can I have a packet of tissues, please?
 
I [STRIKE]will[/STRIKE] want to buy tissues.

As far as I know, grocery stores don't sell single tissues so you would need to say "Can I have a packet of tissues?" or "Can I have a box of tissues?"

This is a packet of tissues:

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This is a box of tissues:

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With #2, tissue paper means something different to me- it's for packing and wrapping things, not for blowing your nose on.

I am in a remote area today and the connection is too slow to upload an image. Maybe someone will help out here. Thanks.
 
Tissue paper:

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It's a confusing term, because it is used so widely for so many different things. It can refer to facial tissues, the decorative wrapping paper mentioned above, and even toilet paper.

I tend to use 'Kleenix' for the first, even if it's not actually Kleenix brand. It's one of those genericized trademarks or proprietary epoynms, where the brand name has become a common noun. At least in the US, you could as for a box/packet of kleenix, and get what you wanted, even if they didn't happen to carry Kleenix brand.

Interestingly enough, I can't think of any other paper product this is true for.
 
I don't agree that the same term is used for all those things. The word "tissue" is shared between them but there is almost always another word attached to it to indicate what you're talking about.

The thing you blow your nose on is a tissue or a pocket tissue.
The stuff you use to wrap presents etc is tissue paper.
The stuff you use in the bathroom is toilet tissue, toilet paper, or toilet roll.

As Piscean indicated, the brand name which is used generically in some countries is "Kleenex". This is not used in the UK. The brand is, of course, sold here but it's never been used as a generic term for tissues. Not so long ago, at a yoga class, an American girl leaned over to me and whispered "Do you have a ...?" I had to ask her to repeat herself three times before I finally realised she was saying "Kleenex". Had she said "Do you have a tissue?", I'm pretty sure I'd have understood her the first time.
The same goes for the little sticky thing you pop on a small cut on your body. While on holiday in the States a couple of decades ago, someone asked me "Do you have a [unintelligible to me]?" Again, after three or four attempts, I finally realised she was asking me for a "Band-Aid". I had never heard the brand name used as a generic term until that day. In the UK, it's just "a plaster".
 
I don't know about the usage of 'toilet tissue', although I wouldn't be surprised to hear it. I've only heard 'tissue paper' used as another term for toilet paper, although I have also heard it shortened to 'tissue'.
 
While on holiday in the States a couple of decades ago, someone asked me "Do you have a [unintelligible to me]?" Again, after three or four attempts, I finally realised she was asking me for a "Band-Aid". I had never heard the brand name used as a generic term until that day. In the UK, it's just "a plaster".

Next time you're over here, try asking for a Paracetamol. :)
 
I'd ask for paracetamol but not with a capital letter. As far as I know, it's not a brand name - it's the generic name of the drug.
 
I'd ask for paracetamol but not with a capital letter. As far as I know, it's not a brand name - it's the generic name of the drug.

You'd get a blank look in the States, where the commonly-used trade name for that substance is Tylenol and its generic name, which is also pretty common in everyday language, is acetaminophen. A friend of mine is a Dutch immigrant and insists that acetaminophen doesn't work as well as paracetamol. He wasn't too impressed when I pointed out that the placebo effect is a powerful thing!
 
I had no idea what my wife (Japanese) meant when she said she'd bought some acetaminophen- I had never heard the term in the UK, only paracetamol.
 
The generic "paracetamol" is far more common here than any brand name. However, a lot of people think that "nurofen" is an actual drug, not realising that it's a brand name (Nurofen) and the actual drug is ibuprofen.
 
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