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Comment by crysin | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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...

> 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?

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.

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