Google Calls in the 'Language Police'

“In fact, our language is littered with words that once used to be brands. Escalator, pogo, gunk and heroin are all examples, as is tabloid, which was originally registered by a drugs company in 1884 and came to mean ‘small tablet’.” —Google Calls in the ‘Language Police’ (BBC)

This is a light-weight riff on the observation that widespread use of the verb “google” may threaten Google’s trademark. Note those quotation marks in the headline… who, exactly, is being quoted? The picture of the roller-skating police officers looks like a psychological scare tactic, but the caption (“Definitely not Rollerblades.”) makes it almost defensible.

Incidentally, the term “hoovering” is popular in the UK but not in the US.

It’s pretty easy to think of coke, kleenex, band-aid, xerox, etc.