Numbnuts in Spelling Bee Finals

Speaker's intent versus listener's interpretation results in a phonetic comedy.

Semantic Funnies: Signs from Above?

Anesthesiologist business card: 'When you care enough to sleep with the very best.'
Sign over a Gynecologist's Office: 'Dr. Jones, at your cervix.'
In a Podiatrist's office: 'Time wounds all heels.'
On a Septic Tank Truck: 'Yesterday's Meals on Wheels.'
At a Proctologist's door: 'To expedite your visit please back in.'
On a Plumber's truck: 'We repair what your husband fixed.'
On another Plumber's truck: 'Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.'
On a Church's Billboard: '7 days without God makes one weak.'

Muppets - Mahna Mahna

For those of you who enjoyed the words in the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper commercial, here is the Muppets version upon which it was based.

Free Vocabulary = Free Rice

Returning to the subject of vocabulary from yesterday, if you have not yet heard of the website Free Rice (http://www.freerice.com/), it is definitely something worth checking out. It is basically a vocabulary quiz and for each word definition you get correct 20 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Also, each time you get a word definition correct, the next word is harder. In sum, this website is fun, challenging, eductional and philanthropically responsible.

The Most Unusual Word Contest -- Word List

Following are the words that have been entered in the Most Unusual Word Contest thus far:

gewgaw, catawampus, bloviate, imbroglio, irregardless, filibuster, troncmaster, pwnennia, quinquennium, verbigerate, uranus, anemone, discombobulated, donnybrook, sesquipedalian verbiage, hubizens, borborygmus, deglycyrrhizinated, sanguivorous, squeehaw, googlewhack, extrapolate, octarchy, lachrymatory, paraskevidekatriaphobia, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, batrachophagous, naked = A note made in a burial register when the corpse was unshrouded and the coffin unlined.
Zygosaccharomyces

Don't forget to enter the contest. For details and instructions click - http://walkinthewords.blogspot.com/2008/05/most-unusual-word-contest.html

The contest deadline is Sunday, 6/08/08

Scripps National Spelling Bee: More Than Just Spelling

What a great time of year it is for word, vocabulary, etymology and spelling lovers. The Scripps National Spelling Bee begins today. Yes, I know it is call a spelling bee but viewing it is also a great way to learn new words and their definitions and etymologies, in addition to their spelling. In other words, watching the spelling bee is a great way to expand your vocabulary.

For example, here are some of the winning words from years past:

crustaceology: The branch of zoology that studies crustaceans. Latin crusta = "crust, hard shell."
eudaemonic: Producing happiness and well-being. Greek eu- + daimon = "good or happy spirit."
esquamulose: In botany, lacking minute scales; not squamulose. Latin e - "not" + squamula- "small scales."
hydrophyte: A plant adapted to grow in water. Greek hydro + phyte
vivisepulture: An act or instance of burying someone alive. Latin vivus 'alive' + sepulture 'burying.'
appoggiatura: an embellishing note or tone preceding an essential melodic note or tone and usually written as a note of smaller size. Borrowed from Italian appoggiatura, derived from appoggiare, meaning “to lean.”

Interestingly, Spell Check did not recognize even one of these words.

The Quarterfinals are on ESPN360.com this afternoon, the Semifinals are on ESPN tomorrow afternoon, and the Finals are on ABC tomorrow evening.

Staycation, All You Ever Wanted?

Last week's Newsweek had an article about summer travel and rising gas prices. The article suggested that, because of gas prices, many people may choose to take a "staycation" this summer. I had never heard the word staycation prior to this article and I think it is a very descriptive and appropriate word for what it refers to - a vacation spent at home. A staycation can involve hanging out in your own backyard or exploring places in or close to your hometown. The word staycation is actually another example of a portmanteau word (which I have previously discussed) and according to WordSpy, the word was first used in The Myrtle Beach Sun-News on July 11, 2003.

Linguistics T-Shirts

A few years back while working on my MA in Linguistics, I saw that there was a lack of availability of fun, linguistics related t-shirts on the market, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I came up with the following linguistically-inspired mottos for t-shirts (only one of which I had made).

SEMANTICIANS MEAN WELL

SYNTACTICIANS KNOW HOW TO TURN A PHRASE

PHONOLOGISTS RULE THE SOUND WAVES

PHONETICIANS ARE OF SOUND MIND

PRAGMATICIANS KEEP IT IN CONTEXT

MORPHOLOGISTS CAN AFFIX ANYTHING

GOT GRAMMAR

Because I focused on topics in semantics while working on my degree, I had about 20 or so of the "Semanticians Mean Well" shirts made. I gave them away to friends and family to spread my love of linguistics. I also gave one to Professor Margaret Winters at Wayne State University as she was my thesis advisor and a huge inspiration.

I would love to hear more linguistically-inspired mottos if anyone out there has ideas. Let's give the t-shirt printers some inspiration.

Church Bulletin Semantics

This is from an email I recieved and I just had to share:

Those Wonderful Church Bulletins! Thank God for church ladies with typewriters.
These sentences appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services (2007 ).

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.

The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get

The Rector will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing:'Break Forth In to Joy '

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?'Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at th e side entrance.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday : 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours'.

Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Idioms

The Most Unusual Word Contest

Enter to Win "A Walk in the Words" T-Shirts and other prizes.

To enter: Please submit your favorite unusual word by clicking on the comment button below.

Please include your name, city where you are located, and an email address where I can reach you.

You may only enter once so make sure your unusual word is really different.

The winners will be selected by a panel of judges including me and devoted Walk in the Words readers Lori and Tanya.

What qualifies as an unusual word? A word that is not well known, a word that sounds unusual, a known word with an unusual meaning. Your word cannot be made up and there must be a citable reference of its usage.

Examples: Not well known word -- pebble pup: A young child interested in studying,
collecting and working with rocks.

Unusual sounding word -- tintinnabulation: The ringing of bells.

Known word with unusual meaning -- yard sale: A wipe out in downhill skiing where skis, poles, hat, etc. end up strewn along the mountainside.

The contest deadline is Sunday, 6/08/08

5th Question of the Week Poll Results Mixed

For those of you who didn't see it, the question of the week last week was "Should I continue having a question of the week or should I spend my time on other linguistic endeavors?" As the results were mixed, I have decided that I will occasionally include some form of a poll but it will no longer be a weekly feature. Instead, I will include various other types of weekly features. For this weeks' feature please see the next post.

The Linguistic Traits of NCIS Agent Ziva David

Call me behind the times but I just discovered the television show NCIS this year (even though it completed its fifth season Tuesday evening). I immediately fell in love with the show not only because it is a quality show but also because I love listening to the character Ziva's use of the English language. Ziva David is an Israeli Mossad agent who speaks many languages, though English is obviously not her first.

Ziva's linguistic traits include:

A lack of the use of contractions.

Tony: How long have you been in this country?
Ziva: Why?
Tony: Well you never heard of gypsy cabs. You don't use contractions. Assimilate already.
Ziva: What are contraptions?

This is quite accurate for an ESL speaker as it is very hard for foreigners to grasp the use of contractions. I, personally, think that the lack of contractions in her speech make Ziva sound very sophisticated - plus I find it amusing.

Mixing up suffixes.

In an episode a week ago when McGee (as he is playing Scrabble with Ziva) tells Tony that he is working on a linguistic developmental exercise to bolster her English vocabulary. Ziva responds that it is not her vocabulary that needs bolsterment.

Mixing up idioms.

Ziva : It'll be like trying to find a pin in the haystack.

Ziva: Ducky, drip it!
Ducky: You mean drop it or zip it?
Ziva: American idioms drive me up the hall!

Ziva: I feel like a donkey's butt.
McGee: Donkey's butt?
Tony: I think she means horse's a** probie.
Ziva: Yes, that too.

Ziva: Kody was covering his plates.

Ziva: McGee you look like you saw a goat.

Each one of the above examples of Ziva's language characteristics falls under the category of either morphology errors or syntax errors.

As for the season finale which has Ziva, Tony and McGee leaving - I don't believe it will happen, I think it was just the writers' version of a cliffhanger, or should I say bluffhanger.

NCIS - Lost In Translation

Green Collars are So Exocentric

I neglected to mention in yesterday's post that green collar, blue collar, white collar, gold collar, pink collar, and grey collar are all considered exocentric compounds. In general, there are two main types of compound words, endocentric and exocentric.

Endocentric compounds are those where the rightmost constituent, called the grammatical head, is what defines the category of speech and the semantic interpretation of the word. For example, a barstool is a type of stool that is used at a bar.

Exocentric compounds (which have been the focus of much of my work in linguistics) are generally believed to not be definable by either constituent and are therefore said to be headless. For example, a jailbird is not a type of bird or a type of jail.

Because exocentric compounds are said to be headless and not definable by the words from which they are formed, they have long been considered semantically un-analyzable. In turn, this semantic un-analyzability results in the perceived lack of productivity of this type of compound.

I, however, believe that exocentric compounds can be both semantically analyzable (through the use of metaphor and other semantic operations) and productive --- just look at the number of compound words that have been added to the English lexicon based on the linguistic template of the compound word white collar.

As the topic of exocentric compounds is one of my favorites, I assure you there will be more on their semantic analyzability in the future.

Green Collars and Linguistic Templates

One of the areas I have focused on in my studies of linguistics is compound words, so when I recently came across the compound word green collar worker I was very excited. I find it interesting to see how new words make it into the lexicon and how people are able to interpret them.

Some of my previous work on compound words has relied on Professor Mary Ellen Ryder's idea of using "linguistic templates" for interpreting novel compound words. Ryder predicts that a listener, upon encountering a new compound, will look to his or her stock of established compounds and the semantic schemas developed from them to interpret the compound, these are what she call "linguistic templates." The particular template a listener chooses to use in interpreting a new compound is what she calls the "analogy base." For example, given a novel compound such as whitemail, a listener would look to existing compounds and end up using blackmail as an analogy base.

So when it comes to the compound word green collar worker, people will, most likely, immediately think of the compounds white collar and blue collar workers to interpret the word. Little did I know that there are also gold, pink and grey collar workers as well.

The collar workers are defined as follows:
Green Collar - A worker who is employed in one of the environmental or agricultural sectors of the economy.
Gold Collar - Low-income, workers who invest in conspicuous luxury.
Pink Collar - A person who has a job that is traditionally considered a womens' job because the work does not require as much professional training and does not have the same pay or prestige as jobs that are traditionally considered mens' jobs.
Grey Collar - Workers that have jobs that include elements of both blue and white collar jobs, or workers in jobs that are entirely different from both white and blue collar jobs. Also, occasionally used to describe a person who works past the normal age of retirement

A final note on Ryder's "linguistic templates," I believe they also provide a basis for generating new compounds and likely contributed to the formation of each of the compound words discussed above.

Recent Jeopardy Categories

I try to make a point of watching Jeopardy whenever I can because I believe it is one of the highest quality and most educational game shows on television. I especially love to see how much fun the writers have naming the categories. They truly know how to be creative with language.

Because of my love of linguistics, a couple of my favorite categories recently were You're Such an Idiom and Slanguage. Of course, this got me to thinking of other potential linguistic category titles. Here are some that I have come up with: Clitical Mass, Nice Dipthong, Free the Morphemes, A Nominal Cost, Foxymorons, Hang up the Phoneme, Tag (Question) You're It.

4th Question of the Week Poll Results - Gerundizing

Well, I certainly didn't fool any of my readers with that question. Everyone answered verbalizing and everyone answered correctly. A gerund is a verbal noun; basically a noun derived from the -ing form of a verb. So to turn the verb verbalize into a noun you would add -ing to make verbalizing.

The official definition of a gerund as listed on Answers.com is:
1. In Latin, a noun derived from a verb and having all case forms except the nominative.
2. In other languages, a verbal noun analogous to the Latin gerund, such as the English form ending in -ing when used as a noun, as in singing in We admired the choir's singing.

More on the Yooper Dialect

Here are some more examples of differences between the dialect found in the Upper Peninsula and the Standard American Dialect:

U.P. Dialect --- Standard American Dialect
Expressions:
Wah --- Wow
Holy wah! --- Really wow
Eh. Okay, --- what or hey
Yah sure-hey --- You’ve got to be kidding. I don’t believe it.
Youbetcha --- Yes, without a doubt

Directional Phrases:
Side by each --- Side by side
Pre’neer --- Pretty near or very close
Kotisva --- Go this way
Kotatva --- Go that way

Grammatical changes:
Let’s go Shop-ko. --- Let’s go to the store.
Make wood --- Split logs

Vocabulary:
Pank --- To pack down
Swampers --- Rubber boots
Choppers --- Deer skin mittens with a wool insert
Chuke --- French-Canadian knitted hat with a tassel
Lats --- Skis, usually homemade
Sauna --- Finnish steam room
Camp --- Cottage

Foods:
Pasty --- Finnish or Cornish meat pie
Kala Mojaka --- Finnish fish stew
Juustua --- Finnish cheese

Many of these examples also exhibit the strong influence of the Finnish language on the dialect found in the Upper Peninsula today.

The differing grammatical rules can be seen by the dropping of prepositions in the dialect. This is directly related to the Finnish language as it has 14 declensions of nouns and does not use prepositions. Finnish nouns have the meaning of “to” added as a suffix called a postposition. In addition, the Finnish language does not use articles such as a, an or the. This can be seen in the sentence structure of the dialect as well and in the example of “Let’s go Shop-ko”.

Word borrowing is also used. Some of the words in the dialect are Finnish words including many of the popular foods and some of the directional phrases.

Mah Na Mah Na Muppets

I will admit that the commercial I just posted is one of my favorites because I am from the Sesame Street generation. I remember Mah Na Mah Na as the Muppets performed it on Sesame Street and I always loved that version. When the Dr. Pepper commercial first aired, it was an immediate favorite for me because of its connection to Sesame Street. An interesting and little known fact about the song is that it was part of the soundtrack for a 1968 Italian soft core pornography film called "Sweden: Heaven and Hell." Hard to believe that the writers and producers of Sesame Street would want to have any link to the world of pornography. Like the woman in the Dr. Pepper commercial, they must have just heard mah na mah na coming out of the mouth of the person who told them where the song was discovered.

Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper commercial

One of my all time favorite ads. I love the words she hears him speaking.

Gotta Love Dem Yoopers

One of the first papers I wrote while working on my MA (and one of my favorite subjects still) was about the dialect of English used in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This dialect has been called Yooper Talk, Yoopanese and Yooponics based on the the word Yooper.

Yooper has become such a commonplace term for the residents of the Upper Peninsula that it has even gained mention in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. The definition is listed as “A native or inhabitant of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The etymology is from UP, which is the abbreviation for Upper Peninsula.

The dialect has also been called Finglish because of the strong Finnish influence on the phonology, grammar and vocabulary of the dialect in the Upper Peninsula. While speakers of the dialect follow rules that vary from those of Standard American English, they follow these rules because they are rules that are based on the original language that helped form the dialect. In sum, this does not mean that these people have poor grammar, are using sloppy, lazy speech or are any less intelligent than those who speak what is considered Standard American English.

Following is an example of pronunciations in the U.P dialect that differ from Standard American English: dese, dem, dose and da instead of these, them, those and the
both pronounced as bot with a soft t

The Finnish influence is shown here by the lack of the “th” sound. The Finnish language does not have this sound and this results in the use of the “d” sound in place of the English “th” sound and the use of the soft t sound at the end of words that end in th.

As I previously mentioned, this is one of my favorite subjects so check back for more about the U.P. and Yoopers in the near future.

Bill Bryson and A Walk in the Words/Woods

Having just returned from the woods of northern Michigan, I thought I would share with you the inspiration for the title of my blog. Yes, I did intentionally name this blog "A Walk in the Words" after Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods," and there are three important reasons I chose this name:
1. I grew up spending many vacations in northern Michigan and in the Upper Peninsula, thus developing a love of nature and hiking in the woods early in life.
2. I grew up with a strong love of reading, language and words.
3. Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way," and "Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States," are a couple of my favorite books about language and ones that I often recommend to people to show that learning about language can be fun.

Verbose Verbiage From Readers

Verbalicious - Eating ones words - from Tanya
Verbagious – Words that are contagious and you just
can’t stop using them (like “oh my god!”) - from Lori
Verbixer – Mixing up your words - from Lori

3rd Question of the Week Poll Results: He Said, She Said

The poll results are in and the responses to the question, "Do women talk more than men?" were fairly evenly spread among the three possible answers: yes, no, or yes and no. And now I must admit that I am guilty of using a trick question. According to the book "Language Myths," all three answers are correct depending on the situation. The considerations that must be taken into account are: the social context of the talk, the type of talk, and the speaker's familiarity with the subject matter. Studies have shown that, in general, men talk more than women when informative, persuasive talk is valued in public and formal situations. Men are also known to use talk to increase societal status. Women, conversely, talk more in informal, private situations and are known to use talk to maintain relationships. Of course, keep in mind that these are generalities - think pillow talk.

Hence, I Would Rather Not Watch Desperate Housewives Any Longer

I don't know why but I can't seem to stop watching "Desperate Housewives." It was fairly entertaining (in a mindless, trashy sort of way) its first year, but it has gone downhill ever since. At any rate, I bring the show up because on last Sunday's episode a character named Mike, who is a plumber, repeatedly used the word hence because for some reason he thought it made him sound smarter and classier. Perhaps he should have had his druthers about something because, according to the "Dictionary of American Regional English," the word druthers has a proven record of being used more often by college-educated people.

Druthers is an interesting word. It is basically a contraction of "I would ruther" (ruther being a dialectical form of rather). But if you think about it, druthers is also similar to a portmanteau word because it takes some of its sound and meaning from both would and ruther.

And now back to hence......the word hence is loosely defined as "from this fact," according to the etymology website, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php. And of course there is thence "from that place" and whence "from when."

Just wanted to throw out some additional verbiage for the "Desperate Housewives" scriptwriters to consider.

Verbose Verbiage

While visiting the website http://www.wordie.org I came across the word verbivorous which was defined as follows: 1. Literally, eating words for sustenance. 2. To be such a voracious reader that one could seem to live solely on words. 3. The name of a website (http://www.verbivorous.com) where you can share books with other readers. This word was obviously created by a verbose (in a good way) person whose verbiage is most impressive, because the word is not listed in dictionaries (yet). I love the word and I like to consider myself a verbivore. At any rate, the word verbivorous got me thinking of all the potential words that could be created with verb as their root. Here are some I came up with:

Verbemia - The state of having words in ones blood
Verbitis - The inflammation of words one uses
Verboid - Void of words
Verbiatrics - Medical treatment for improving the words one uses
Verbuflect - Bowing down to someones words
Verbature - The act of tying things together with ones words

I could go on and on, however, I would rather hear what my readers can conceive. Don't be verboid, send me some of your creative verbiage.

Business Names Gone Bad

My kids have been acting up today, I would like to exchange them for some other kids please. Just kidding.

This must be a store where people take their kids' outgrown clothing and toys to exchange them, it can't possibly be where you take your kid to have a sex change.

I also recently heard about a swimming pool chemical company called Poolife. I can't imagine anyone would want to bring poo to life in their swimming pool. A double "L" would have been beneficial here.

There is an Internet business named Publishit.com. I wonder......do they only publish sh*t?

I'm sure there are many more poorly named businesses out there and I would love to hear about more so please send me your Business Names Gone Bad as a comment.

It just goes to show you that when someone is naming their new business, they should really take into consideration the way the spelling and words of the name can be reinterpreted.

Culver's Guilty of Using Inaccurate Homophone in Attempt at Word Play

As I was driving up north this past weekend I noticed a billboard on I-75 advertising the burger chain Culver's. The billboard has a picture of a burger and a shake with the words Two Tasty. This is an obviously attempt at word play as the use of the word two prompts the reader to also think of its homophone too. Culver's intention here is for readers of the billboard to think that, not only are each of the two items tasty, they are also very tasty (too tasty). I am not a big fan of Culver's so in my eyes this is an inaccurate homophone for the billboard. How about Knot Tasty.

Lord Stanley Valentino Payne

He actually looks an awful lot like Gus as a pup.

The Stanley Cup and the Semantics of Names

As much as I miss my dear dog, Augusta National or Gus, in consideration of my two sons and as a tribute to Gus, my husband and I decided to get a puppy as soon as we could - which ended up being Wednesday evening. At my one son's suggestion and at my husband's request, we named him Stanley, as in The Stanley Cup. Actually his full, AKC-registered name is Lord Stanley Valentino Payne (Valentino because he was born on Valentine's Day). I, myself, am not quite the sports fan that the rest of my family is, so when they said the name would be Lord Stanley, I thought they added the title Lord just to make him sound cooler. Little did I know that The Stanley Cup is named after Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada.

I guess, if you think about it, it seems obvious that The Stanley Cup and numerous other sports awards are named after people. However, being that I am not a huge sports fan, I never really thought about it.

Here are a few:
Baseball - Cy Young Award, after Cy Young
Football - Heisman Trophy, after John Heisman.
Football - Vince Lombardi Trophy (Super Bowl trophy), after Vince Lombardi
Basketball - Naismith Award, after James Naismith
Golf - Ryder Cup, after Samuel Ryder
Tennis - Davis Cup, after Dwight F. Davis

By the way, many of these names provide great inspiration for naming a pet. And even though the meaning of certain names may not be obvious to all, when a person chooses a name that means something to them, they know the meaning and that is the semantics of names.

2nd Question of the Week Poll Results: Is that snirt or a portmanteau I see there?

The majority of voters this past week were correct in saying that snirt is a noun. Snirt is found in the Midwest at the end of winter. It is the combination of snow and dirt found on the side of roads and in parking lots. The word (snirt) itself, which is a combination of the words snow and dirt, is what is considered a portmanteau word. Portmanteau words are those that are formed by combining the sounds and meanings of two different words. They are considered a linguistic blend.


The reason this type of linguistic blend is called a portmanteau word comes from the meaning of the word portmanteau. A portmanteau is a type of bag or suitcase used in Europe that carries mixed items. Thus a portmanteau word carries a mix of words.

Slithy (lithe and slimy) and mimsy (flimsy and miserable) are some well known portmanteau words created by Lewis Carroll that appear in "Through the Looking Glass."

Zipper Falls Prey to Genericide

A zipper by any other name...is still a zipper. When the word zipper was first trademarked it was considered a proper noun that was capitalized, it was only through repeated usage that the word zipper became a generic name for any product that resembled and performed the same function as a zipper. The term genericide was coined to describe the process by which a trademarked or brand name becomes a generic name for the product category. According to the website WordSpy, the first recorded use of the word genericide was in an article in Legal Times in 1983.

Some other familiar brand names that have suffered from genericide include: aspirin, escalator, granola, heroin, yo-yo and linoleum. Aditionally, the San Fransisco Examiner lists the following brand names as endangered (though I would argue that some of them have already fallen prey to genericide): Band-Aid, Xerox, Realtor, Jeep, Rollerblade and Coke.