Duster?

[Tait-ka]

Can I please ask what you call it in English? Here, we call it a duster. It's used to wipe off the writing on a whiteboard. We use a whiteboard marker to write on a whiteboard.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's called a "whiteboard eraser".

When I was at school, a similar thing would have been a "blackboard rubber" but it seems no one uses a blackboard and chalk anymore! It's a shame. As a kid, one of my favourite things to do was to grab the blackboard rubber and hit the fabric side really hard (like a clap) to release clouds of chalk dust, then I'd breathe it in. I loved the smell. It probably didn't do my lungs any good!

 

[SoothingDave]

Try two erasers being clapped against each other!

 

[jutfrank]

I refer to these things almost every working day of my life as 'board rubbers'.

 

[Tait-ka]

Try two erasers being clapped against each other!

Sorry, what do you mean here?

 

[jutfrank]

 

[Tait-ka]

Thanks, but what's the purpose of doing it?

 

[SoothingDave]

It cleans them.

 

[Skrej]

Thanks, but what's the purpose of doing it?

Silicosis, probably.

 

[probus]

It was a great privilege when I was a tyke to be chosen by the teacher to take the blackboard erasers outdoors and clap them together to knock the chalk dust out of them. They were made of a felt-like material and were superseded when our blackboards were replaced by whiteboards and the chalk by markers.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, the students would vie for the honor of getting to do this.

Of course, we also liked to smell the mimeograph (ditto) ink on freshly-printed papers.

 

[Rover_KE]

I refer to these things almost every working day of my life as 'board rubbers'.

As mentioned elsewhere, this would cause great hilarity in American schools, where rubbers are condoms.

 

[jutfrank]

As mentioned elsewhere, this would cause great hilarity in American schools, where rubbers are condoms.

Can I borrow your rubber, Johnny?

 

[Tait-ka]

All the native BE and AE speakers who have replied above, can I please ask whether the thing in the OP is also called a whiteboard rubber or simply a rubber?

 

[5jj]

Not by this speaker of BrE.

 

[probus]

Back to the original question, here is a video:

Google Search

 

[emsr2d2]

All the native BE and AE speakers who have replied above, can I please ask whether the thing in the OP is also called a whiteboard rubber or simply a rubber?

Not for me. It's a whiteboard eraser. These are all rubbers:







And these are dusters:

 

[PeterCW]

It's a long time since I had to use a whiteboard for a business presentation. Back then (late 20th century) we would have called the cleaning tool a 'rubber' or a 'board rubber'.
We knew what type of board we used.