Since roundball is a little light, I am going to seek your assistance in finding a word I've been trying to remember for years. No one that I associate with can help me so I'm going to expand my horizon to you all.

Back in the day, my 12th grade english teacher told us this word and, for no reason whatsoever, I've been trying to remember it. The word is roughly defined as brand names that become so popular that they become synonymous with the product itself. For example,Kleenex (instead of tissue), Kool-Aid (instead of flavored drink), Coke (instead of soft drink).

I know I've done a poor job defining it but give it your best shot anyway. Juulie, I'll be disappointed if you don't know the answer.

Thanks.

Hmmm...I'm thinking the word is "successful". ;)

Does such a word actually exist? Anyway, other examples are:

Band-Aid
Walkman
Velcro
Xerox machine
Q-tip
Scotch tape
Teflon
Styrofoam

Brand(ing) parity ?

Call your local Library- ask for the Lit. department- they'll find your answer
Stew
(wife is a Librarian)

Would you mean "eponym"? I had to look it up... (backwards, and in high heels!)

whoa! I am impressed (although I'll admit I don't have my heels on today :) ).

anyway, it seems an eponym is a *person* who lends his/her name to a common object or place. But it certainly seems close enough.

http://members.tripod.com/~foxdreamer/page2.html

An example of an eponym is "Davism".

UDAMAN !

That's a great try, Juulie, but I don't think that's it since it only seems to work for people. I will try to remember "eponym" though. I'll try to slip it into conversation one day.

Stew, good idea about checking with the library. I did and they couldn't help. Perhaps this word is in my imagination.
How about asking your wife.

Thanks for the efforts so far, guys and gals.

BTW, This is my 100th post. YIPPEE!! Please keep your gifts and cards to a minimum. I am registered at Purchase Officials Supplies, though, in case you can't help yourself.

Check out this website. http://www.prairienet.org/~rkrause/brands.html

I have another word in the back of my mind, too, but it's not coming up. If it does, I'll let you know.

Hey, look, my website reference worked!!!

If you want to call someone, try a patent lawyer, or a copyright lawyer, or a lawyer that specializes in trademarks.

You convinced me! As Mick said, you are the man...err...woman...err...person...who happens to be wearing high heeled shoes gayly skipping backwards through life...uhhh wait...make that happily skipping backwards through life (geeze)

The word you are looking for is "genericide." Check the following link http://www.inta.org/basics/tmfaqsD.shtml under number 4.

I asked a friend who is a honcho at the US Patent and Trademark Office about this. While he is on the patent side he said that it is a term that is used around there.

The word you are looking for is "genericide." Check the following link http://www.inta.org/basics/tmfaqsD.shtml under number 4.

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Not "genericize"? It seems to me that "genericide" would be to kill off all the generic equivalents, not become a generic term. Anyway, "generic" is probably what the teacher taught those few years ago!

Im just trying to figure out what the difference between CYO Butch's post and recref's post, .....unless CYO Butch is the genercide of recref....hhhhmmmm

AK ref SE

Here are some lines from a thesaurus, do any of these sound familiar?

agname, agnomen, alias, appellation, autograph, autonym, brand, cognomen, compellation, denomination, designation, epithet, eponym, flag, handle, head, heading, John Doe, John Hancock, John Henry, label, matronymic, moniker, monogram, nickname, nomen, patronymic, pen name, pet name, place name, prenomen, proper name, pseudonym, rubric, sign, signature, sobriquet, stage name, style, surname, tag, term, trade name

You know, after all these years, I don't believe I would know the specific word he used if you slapped me in the face with it. Juulie, you've convinced me that eponym will work just fine. I knew my faith in you wasn't misplaced.

For the rest of our lovely contestants, thank you for your contributions. You may collect your parting gifts at the door.

Genericide Rules - Congrats to RecRef
 

Check out http://www.wordspy.com/words/genericide.asp RecRef was absolutely right! Only minor problem is that the earliest citation for the word was 1983, so a HS teacher might not have been using it in the timeframes involved.

Re: Genericide Rules - Congrats to RecRef
 

Genericide has to do with the process, not with the products of the process. That's why I think Juulie's is probably more what I'm looking for. I graduated from HS in 1982, btw, so the timeframe is close.

Re: Re: Genericide Rules - Congrats to RecRef
 

For me, it was during "Industrial Marketing" in 1970.