Household Names

[Dark One]

I was wondering if you guys had different 'household names' to us in the UK?

If you don't know what a household name is, its a manufacturers or brand name used to refer to any product of that type.

Example: In the uk we have

Hoover = any vacuum cleaner

Dyson = any cyclone type vacuum cleaner

Coke = any brand of cola

Walkman = any brand of portable cd or cassette player

If i can think of any more, i'll post them here.

America:

Xerox machine = photocopier

[Lix]

band aids- well what are they called otherwise?
gyprock apparently is a brand

there are more but thats all i can think of

[eLsa___xX]

speedos? dats a brand~
and.....
ugg boots

[Becka]

i suppose bandaids are usually called plasters, but that just doesnt have the same ring to it does it

[Becka]

Esky - a chiller box
Icypole (in WA) - from Peters Icypoles - an iceblock (those sweet licking things)
Crescent - any sort of adjustable spanner

[Cat-Eyes]

Aus

Glad wrap - cling film (from the Glad brand)
Textas - in South Africa they're kahkies (say co-keys) - no idea what you'd call them otherwise...

[Dark One]

Cling Film is a brand name in the UK. We use it to refer to any food wrap.

Just thought of another one: Sellotape - any brand of sticky tape

[Cat-Eyes]

We just call that stickytape... Unless it's masking tape, which is different.

[~*~Neisha~*~]

cateyes said:

Aus

Textas - in South Africa they're kahkies (say co-keys) - no idea what you'd call them otherwise...

I think the yankies call em "markers" hehe

here's another one for Australia -

instead of i dunno "chest balm" we just say "Vicks" which is the most well known form of chest balm for when u have a cold

[~Dani~]

Doona--the thick blanket you have on your bed
I don't what other people call it??

[Dark One]

we call it a duvet, but thats not a brand name in the uk.

Neisha: We use Vicks too, though its not such a common household name in the UK

[Rushton]

ryneisha said:

I think the yankies call em "markers" hehe

Actually they call them Sharpies

And its interesting on the cling film front. It's referred to as Saran in the states - cos that's the major brand name. It took me about 5 minutes to explain to someone once that I needed some for covering some paint pots. I kept calling it Glad Wrap and she had no idea what I was talking about.

I've still kept some of my yankee-isms - a year of living there will do that to ya.

We call any kind of cloth you use in the kitchen a chux cloth - even if its another brand.

[Cat-Eyes]

Yeah, cause Markers are different again!

The American use of jelly and jello etc thuroughly confuses me. Jam is so much easier to understand! (Although, admittedly we do use jam for fruit preserve and concentrate or soemthing like that)

Cat

[~*~Neisha~*~]

jgduffin said:

we call it a duvet, but thats not a brand name in the uk.

Neisha: We use Vicks too, though its not such a common household name in the UK

I wanna go to Englannnnd! Lol I love the language there its so proper I wanna do that Au Pair thing where you can like be a nanny overseas hehe I know you can definitely Au Pair in America from Asutralia, but I'm not ure you can Au Pair in the UK *shrug*

[Dark One]

i think you can. We have Au Pairs from all over the world in the UK

[~*~Neisha~*~]

COOL I need to find out more about it I only wanna go for like 3 months or so tho, not a whole year That way I can hopefully Au Pair in America, France AND England

[Cat-Eyes]

What is Au Pair?

[~*~Neisha~*~]

Ummm basically ypu pay to go over to the country but once ur there u stay with a family that has relatively young kids and they provide u with a room and meals, and u look after the kids like u drive them to school and serve them dinner and stuff like that for a year. You also get paid weekly but its only a couple hundred bucks but you get free board and meals and a paid 2 weeks holiday (I think its paid *shrug*). I only kno all this from a brochure i got about it from EF, i think, and it wa only for America, sdo I'm not sure how it is for other countries. You do it thru an organisation so ur rights are protected tho

[DragonMornir]

Yeah that stuff looks really cool neisha!
i wanna go to america to do the summer camps and stuff.. but Tafe and lack of funds keep getting in the way lol

[Cat-Eyes]

I wanna do a year 13 exchange. Basically you finish year 12 in Aus and then you go and do second semester year 12 in a northern hemisphere country. To do it in America you need to be born at the end of the year but I think for other countries they don't really mind. I'm fine though cause I am born at the end of the year ;D (September)

Cat

[~*~Neisha~*~]

Drat! My birthday' in March! Noooooo

DM, whats this summer camp u speak of??? :S

[Squirt]

I'm going over to the US to look after kiddies on a Disney Cruise ship soon! Yay!

[Dark One]

Neisha, maybe you should contact the British Embassy in Australia. They may be able to put you in touch with the right people.

[Cat-Eyes]

That sounds like so much fun, squirt!

[Squirt]

Hopefully! I'm very excited! Plus Disney pay all airfares so I get to travel for free!