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Comment by trhway | Hacker News Reader

Velcro. We have a small dog which needs clothes, and naturally zippers would be no-go and buttons wouldn't work well for many reasons. Velcro though is like magic.

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The Velcro company kindly asks that you refrain from using Velcro as a noun or verb. Instead use the generic term hook & loop.

https://www.velcro.com/dont-say-velcro/

This in jest but I like sharing this as it's really interesting the efforts Velcro goes to, to protect their trademark.

Interesting, I’ve only seen rules like these for the proper verbal usage of Adobe® Photoshop®:

https://www.adobe.com/legal/permissions/trademarks.html

You could probably google a dozen more instances, but it's the sort of thing that bored journalists do every few years:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/kleenex...

That is a very cute page. I like their attitude.

And the video at the top of the page is absolutely wonderful. It's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Watch it with good headphones or speakers and the sound up.

Direct link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRi8LptvFZY

> When you use “velcro” as a noun or a verb (e.g., velcro shoes), you diminish the importance of our brand and our lawyers lose their insert fastening sound.

Haha, so sad to hear. I wish I could print this and velcro it to my fridge.

> When you use “velcro” as a noun or a verb (e.g., velcro shoes), you diminish the importance of our brand and our lawyers lose their insert fastening sound. So please, do not say “velcro shoes” (or “velcro wallet” or “velcro gloves”) – we repeat “velcro” is not a noun or a verb.

Weird, the word they're looking for is 'adjective'.

As the name of the company it absolutely is a (proper) noun.

Is it an adjective? It's the same kind of thing as "golf ball", which to me is a compound noun.

What is a compound noun if not the combination of adjective and noun, or second noun functioning as adjective and noun?

Can certainly work in certain situations but not all with a young person. They can generally learn to rip open Velcro and now you’re dealing with that. Zippers require a certain level of coordination and dexterity they won’t develop for awhile.

Why are zippers a no-go? I have a small dog I put a raincoat on when it's raining and it zips up.

fur may stuck into it. And if zipper gets stuck for whatever reason the dog may not like sitting for the prolonged time while you're trying to unstuck it. Of course it all depends on specific circumstances, and it is definitely great that it works for your dog.

A garment with zipper also requires much better fitting - which giving dog shapes variations may be a tall order - than say with Velcro where usually there is some latitude, and with Velcro it is much easier to make adjustment by moving it a bit if needed while making adjustment with zipper looks daunting.

Depending on the rest of the article design, that may be fine or it may risk fur getting caught in the zip. I have occasional trouble with my own body hair in zip.

This would be the "bad" design: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/613U7zu5OoL...

I don't know the terms of art so I can't google for a picture of the "good" design, but it would have a wide strip of fabric behind the zip that would ensure no fur gets near the zip mechanism.

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