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Comment by jeffmould | Hacker News Reader

1) Kleenex 2) Google 3) Aspirin 4) Band-Aid 5) Jacuzzi 6) Post-It 7) Q-Tip 8) Sharpie 9) Taser 10) Xerox

I would argue that at least half of those don't qualify.

Kleenex, Google, Band-Aid, Post-It, Q-Tip, and Sharpie are all in a dominant position in their respective product categories. Off-brand examples of all of them exist, but all of my Sharpies are Sharpie brand, I use Q-Tip brand Q-Tips, I only Google with Yahoo or Bing when Google itself is down, and My Band-Aids are Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages.

Just this weekend I heard a friend say they "googled somebody on Facebook", meaning they searched for them in the Facebook search form. So it may have become a synonym for "online search" for some.

Also, I have used Post-Its all my life but did not even know until now that this was a company or product name.

While I think Post-Its are a potential candidate, I think your friend is just weird. I've only ever heard or used "google" as a verb to mean "performing a search via a web search engine to search the entirety of the internet", and even then it almost always includes the unspoken assumption that it will be done using Google.

I am not surprised by that usage. The are a lot of people for whom the difference between Google, Facebook, and Internet are not well understood.

Where are you? In new england I've never heard anyone call a tissue a kleenex.

Hmm. I've heard it in Maryland and California.

I hear it all the time around DC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericize...

I'm from Boston and I've heard Kleenex all my life. Tissue sounds highfalutin.

That's hilarious because to me Kleenex sounds highfalutin, and tissue sounds normal.

And I actually use Kleenex brand!

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