Anybody a G-Shock nerd?

I didn’t realise ‘hoover’ was outdated. These are the advantages of English as a second language :wink: By the way, I like these generic brand names, and we have quite a few in German.

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Only outdated in certain regions/locales. Hoover has been usurped by many other vacuum cleaner brands here in the USA. According to Wikipedia:

In the UK and Ireland the word “hoover” has long been colloquially synonymous with “vacuum cleaner” and the verb “to vacuum” (e.g. “you were hoovering the carpet”), since the Hoover Company’s dominance there during the early 20th century. Despite Hoover no longer being the top seller of vacuum cleaners in the UK, the term “hoover” has remained as a genericized trademark

I imagine there are still some older folks around in the USA who may still use it, but if media productions are any indication, I’ve not seen it mentioned in TV or movies for a long time.

I figured there must be other genericizations in other countries. What are some of the common ones used in Deutschland?

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Thank you for these details!

Off the top of my head: “Fön” for hair dryer, “Tempo” for paper handkerchief, “UHU” für glue (no longer as common), “Inbus” for hexagon socket screw, “einwecken” (verb) and “Weckglas” (noun) for preserving (Weck was the name of the company who invented a special jar for preserving in 1900) and “Kärcher” for high pressure cleaner.

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Interesting. I’m very familiar with UHU glue, mostly the one used for paper adhesion (glue stick). I could see how it would be easy to just say “UHU”.

Is “schadenfreude” a commonly used expression in Germany?

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And it’s funny because “Uhu” is also the name of a bird :smiley:

Yes, it is!

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