Eponyms

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by Xenia, 15th Mar, 2017.

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  1. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    [Note from mods: this thread split from here]

    "Meetup" has now become a trendy word, whether or not it's organised on the meetup website or not.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 16th Mar, 2017
    Xenia, 15th Mar, 2017
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  2. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Yes, "Meetup" has become eponymous for networking events in the same way that hoover and biro and such have become eponyms.

    That being said, there are some grammar zealots who may claim that the term "Meetup" doesn't really qualify as an eponym as it's more of a simple "commonisation" than a proper noun that has been turned into a common noun.
     
    Simon Hampel, 15th Mar, 2017
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  3. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    It took me a long time in Canada (working as a scientist) to find the xerox machine to perform the verb of xeroxing.... lol.
    The first thing I found was a fax machine so I thought I needed to fax the documents someone gave me but it turned out that they wanted a copy of them and xerox machine is a photocopier
     
    Xenia, 15th Mar, 2017
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  4. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    The fax machine was a "xerox" brand too
     
    Xenia, 15th Mar, 2017
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  5. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    And of course these days, many business uses AIO devices (All-In-One) where the photo copier can also print and scan and fax and everything.

    My mum used to use the term "Durex" to mean "sticky tape" ... I had to explain to her that people are more familiar with the brand's condoms these days, so "pass me some durex" does not mean the same thing anymore!
     
    Simon Hampel, 15th Mar, 2017
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  6. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Lol
     
    Xenia, 15th Mar, 2017
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  7. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    In the past I have seen people put documents into a fax machine and when they came out of the machine they told me they didn't send.

    For generic/specific terms we use google for web search. There's other search engines still.
     
    Perthguy, 15th Mar, 2017
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  8. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Yes, we do google things now (lower case g!) - although I would argue that anyone trying to "google" things anywhere other than on Google is wasting their time :p

    Apparently "sandwich" comes from John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich in England - used to gamble and would eat cold meat between two pieces of bread for convenience and the idea caught on with other people.
     
    Simon Hampel, 16th Mar, 2017
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  9. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    The use of the particular words we all use makes me think of my "friend" who corrected me when I wanted her to pass me the Refidex (years ago before technology was available). She said "I can pass you the street directory" with a smug smile. I said "it's a Refidex". She said "its a street directory". We had this bizarre back and forth. I was driving her to see houses she wanted to buy as she couldn't drive at the time, and she was goading me.

    I should have put her out on the roadside. Of course she was correct but what's the point of picking me up on a very local (she isn't from Brisbane) thing like that when I'm doing her a big favour.

    I see her as rarely as I can as she does my head in. I took her to lunch for her birthday in November and said "I need to go to the bathroom". She went on and on about "do you want to have a bath?" and "Surely you want the toilet?" I said "No, I want the bathroom."

    Again, she couldn't accept I use a different word to her and banged on about it through the rest of the day in smug digs and comments.

    I've not seen her since so I can just about manage her twice a year. Many friends have given up but I cannot do that. I doubt she considers her eccentric and quite difficult behavior has anything to do with her old friends avoiding her.
     
    Last edited: 16th Mar, 2017
    wylie, 16th Mar, 2017
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  10. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    @wylie I noticed when I first got to Melbourne that all street directories were referred to as Melways. Even print advertisement had a Melways reference for the address.

    Another one: Rollerblade is a brand of inline skates. People say I went rollerblading but they really went inline skating unless the brand of their skates is Rollerblade.
     
    Perthguy, 16th Mar, 2017
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  11. Blacky

    Blacky Well-Known Member

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    I was surprised when someone said that escalator was an eponym. Turns out it is.

    As is the Phillips head screw driver (and screw)

    And laundromat.

    Who woulda thunk it?

    Blacky
     
    Blacky, 16th Mar, 2017
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  12. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Im pretty sure people have been meeting up socially well before meetup.com was developed :)
     
    DaveM, 16th Mar, 2017
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  13. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Well yes, but the point was that we didn't necessarily call it a "meetup" whereas we do now - even if it's not organised via the meetup website. It's become the generic term for an organised (or semi-organised) gathering of unrelated people.
     
    Simon Hampel, 16th Mar, 2017
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  14. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    Ok... I only really came across meetup.com a couple of years ago but have been using the term for 20 years or so, who knows
     
    DaveM, 16th Mar, 2017
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  15. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Would you like to meetup.com to discuss realestate.com.au and if you can't attend just YouTube it.
     
    Xenia, 16th Mar, 2017
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  16. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    I think meetup.com's lawyers may have something to say about that! :p
     
    Simon Hampel, 16th Mar, 2017
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  17. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    It's like the beer company that ripped off "duff" beer from the Simpsons cartoon. When the Simpsons solicitors sued the beer company, their excuse was "we did not infringe on the simposons copyright, we have used the word duff for many years" the solicitor asked for an example "we call each other "you old duffa" lol
    Case lost - Simpsons won.
     
    Xenia, 16th Mar, 2017
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  18. DaveM

    DaveM Well-Known Member

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    I could have been a billionaire by now!!!
     
    DaveM, 16th Mar, 2017
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  19. geoffw

    geoffw Moderator Staff Member

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    According to dictionary.com, the word dates from 2000 to 2005- it says that it was popularised by meetup.com.
     
    geoffw, 16th Mar, 2017
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  20. Sonamic

    Sonamic Well-Known Member

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    Same thing with Ugg Boots.
     
    Sonamic, 16th Mar, 2017
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