Yeah, everyone I knows calls a vacuum cleaner a 'Hoover' and going back a bit, everyone used to call a mechanical carpet sweeper a 'Ewbank', and these brand names turned into verbs as well, i.e. you'd 'hoover the back bedroom', or 'ewbank the living room', or you would be 'ewbanking' and 'hoovering'.

A fun one in aviation, where a brand became the generic name of the object, is the etymology of the word Joystick. It is (allegedly) from the pioneer aviator Arthur Edward George, whose name and association with that kind of controller is supposedly because his company invented a triplicate controller stick with which you could control pitch, roll and yaw, and which also linked to a steerable tailwheel (an innovation at the time when most used a fixed tailskid), his controller became known as the Georgestick, which supposedly morphed into being called the joystick, and since it was a good way to control an aeroplane, it became the common way for most manufacturers to do it.

Edited February 11, 20215 yr by Chock

1 hour ago, vadriver said:

canada, brazil, mexico .... we downunda have trouble finding true "americans"

We're the ones who were there in the early 1940's........

The London Underground is often referred to by "going on the tube" and the trains "tube-trains". Another slang is the older Televisions use of the cathode ray tube, they were often referred to with "what's on the tube?"

On another note, being in the electronics industry I never liked the way radio's were referred to as "the transistor".

 

 

Oh, oh!  I feel a tube vs chunnel coming! 🤔

There's a little chart in the back of my pilot's notes for the Curtiss P-40 which is a table of terminology in the US versus the UK. I was looking at this the other day, and it has amongst the words listed: Tube (US) - Valve (UK). I dunno whether using the word Tube is still common in the US for those parts since they're not used for many things these days, but I know everyone calls guitar amps in the UK, valve amps and never tube amps.

 

Edited February 11, 20215 yr by Chock

I think there are two points to consider of why airliners are referred to as 'tubeliners"...

 

1. Namely their cylindrical shape - ok they are really oval shaped tubes these days.
2. I think there's another relationship, in that tubes usually get squeezed  (aka tube of ointment) as pressure is exerted on them.

          Today in the aviation world, we call them passengers! 😉

1 hour ago, charliearon said:

Oh, oh!  I feel a tube vs chunnel coming! 🤔

Regarding the Channel Tunnel - AKA the Chunnel (I'm not aware of any other chunnels) - we should have turned left and gone to Belgium! 

Although current climate dictates we should perhaps brick it up... 

SteveW alludes to a radio being called the transistor. Even better is that in the 60's & 70's it was referred to as a "Tranny"  ...could be a problem with that in the 2020's 

https://etyman.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/trannies-and-puffsr-what-were-you-thinking/#:~:text=The word tranny appeared in,the then-new transistor radios.&text=From the 70's on%2C tranny,popular name for the radio.

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

. Do the French really eat them to that extent? I thought they were the connoisseurs of food?

We do, love them and call them « frite ». A staple of a Parisian bistrot is the « beefsteak pommes frites «  (sic). Pomme is for « pomme de terre«   ie potato. Eaten with a beaujolais or a draft beer ! 

On special occasion  (birthday etc) my wife cooks a great roasted duck breast with thin fries (pommes allumettes). 

Why French fries ? I don’t know as for the French a frite is typical of... Belgium. 

A pinch of salt is the way to go and certainly not an abomination like ketchup . That being said I lost the fight against my own children who profusely pour the said abomination on their « frites ». But they lived 6 years in the US 😂.

6 minutes ago, HighBypass said:

SteveW alludes to a radio being called the transistor. Even better is that in the 60's & 70's it was referred to as a "Tranny"  ...could be a problem with that in the 2020's 

What do you mean Steve?

I loved my Ford!!

9 minutes ago, aldridgem said:

What do you mean Steve?

I loved my Ford!!

Tranny - as in Ford Transit!

20 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

We do, love them and call them « frite ». A staple of a Parisian bistrot is the « beefsteak pommes frites «  (sic). Pomme is for « pomme de terre«   ie potato. Eaten with a beaujolais or a draft beer ! 

On special occasion  (birthday etc) my wife cooks a great roasted duck breast with thin fries (pommes allumettes). 

Why French fries ? I don’t know as for the French a frite is typical of... Belgium. 

A pinch of salt is the way to go and certainly not an abomination like ketchup . That being said I lost the fight against my own children who profusely pour the said abomination on their « frites ». But they lived 6 years in the US 😂.

 

Can I come to your place for dinner? 

16 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

Can I come to your place for dinner? 

Could you use another guest?  I'll bring wine! 🍾

Now I'm hungry - I could eat a tube-steak.

48 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

Can I come to your place for dinner? 

30 minutes ago, charliearon said:

Could you use another guest?  I'll bring wine! 🍾

 😄 

Charlie, I remember fondly a Napa Chardonnay when we were living in the Bay Area. Absolutely great with seafood !

 

4 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

 😄 

Charlie, I remember fondly a Napa Chardonnay when we were living in the Bay Area. Absolutely great with seafood !

 

Sounds good!  A little better is a Picpoul de Pinet from the south of France.  Had that with our lunch in Sete.  🍾