From a Grauniad Guardian article on James Dyson , inventor of the dual-cyclone vacuum cleaner: He still has one major ambition. To become a verb, in the same way that Hoover - or, as he puts it, "the alternative" - has done. I suggest to him that people are already using his product but still saying they are "hoovering". He smiles. "I don't think they'll be doing that for long," he says. That struck me as unusual - it's very rare for a firm's leader to say that he wants his product to become a verb. Lots of other companies like TiVo and Google have tried desperately to avoid their name becoming a verb, for fear of the name becoming so generic that the trademark gets diluted. But then, the Languagehat archives seem to show (see comment near the bottom) that Dyson's big on turning his name into a verb. *** Sadly, due to its distinct lack of vowels, the chances of "sng" becoming a verb seem close to zero, regardless of whate...
Comments
That's why it's depressing You want to be reminded that you're essentially a sexual cripple because of your gender? I don't.
And yeah, the article seems laughably shallow and there are plenty of things you can find wrong about it, and I'm over-reacting, but it's a neurose, and yes, I'm aware of it, and yes, I'm trying not too think about it too hard, because if I do I'll either want to cry or smash things.
And yeah, Hani found it amusing and swears that I was a woman in a past life, because I'm blubbering over not being invited into (apparently) the Giant Lesbian Orgy that is womankind.