We all use them: product brand-names that have become synonymous for the product itself. Like Band-aids. No one calls them adhesive strips, even if one isn’t buying the Johnson & Johnson brand but have instead opted for Nexcare.
Kleenex is another one. You can ask for a tissue or, if you’re really specific, a facial tissue; but you could just as easily ask for a Kleenex and everyone will know what you are talking about.
And now we have a new one. Have you heard it? It goes like this: Well, we’re not going to watch it tonight, but we’re going to tivo it. Or like this: We tivoed (sp?) the game last night.
It might not be Tivo that one is using. It’s a dvr (digital video recorder), and it’s mighty handy. But regardless of the dvr brand, Tivo is becoming the noun– the name by which these new inventions are called.
And so these days we are tivoing every old episode of Scrubs, and also of The Office, and Studio Sixty. And we were delighted, too, to learn that even though How the Grinch Stole Christmas already aired this season, it’s going to be aired a few more times. So we’ve set our Tivo (er, our dvr) to record it: This Thursday, 8 a.m.
