Growing up in Canada we did not refer to tissues as tissues. We called them Kleenex. It’s one of those weird Canadian-isms.

  • @PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s called a genericized trademark. There’s plenty, including aspirin and heroin.

    It’s also common to call these Kleenex in the US.

    Definitely seems like a strange decision.

        • @cyanarchy@sh.itjust.works
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          51 year ago

          I had to look this up. The inventor never trademarked the name and it was used by a competitor almost immediately. He lost a lawsuit over linoleum becoming a generic term 14 years after it’s invention. There were other brand names but linoleum became a generic term almost as soon as the product was widespread.

    • @ShakeThatYam@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I heard that in the South every carbonated beverage is a Coke. However, I don’t understand how this works practically. If you wanted a Sprite, would you order a Coke-Sprite?

      Also Heroin, but Bayer probably is fine with letting that trademark lapse. (Also Aspirin was a Bayer trademark).

      • SeaJ
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        1 year ago

        It’s more like if someone asks if you want a soda, they would instead ask if you want a Coke. You would then ask what kind they have. If you want a specific type at a restaurant, you would just say the kind you wanted.

      • @candybrie@lemmy.world
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        101 year ago

        No, you’d order a sprite. It’s not like people order Soda-Sprite or Pop-Sprite. It only might get confusing for coke. And even then, usually, you can infer it they mean the general idea or, specifically, cocacola.

    • @bisq@lemmy.world
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      51 year ago

      Is Teflon a genericized trademark? Not sure I’d there’s any diff between that and Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)?