Thanks, Lou. That makes perfect sense. I'm 48 and do recall my
great-grandmother calling the refrigerator the "Coolerator"
generically, even though she owned a pink Hotpoint, but I never did
hear Frigidaire used that way. My grandfather called it the icebox,
but of course that's not a brand name. I guess it's all what you
grew up with, and when.
Thanks again, Greg Robertson On Jul 7, 2008, at 11:25 AM, Lou wrote: I think the gist of the original msg was not that Frigidaire as a brand from yesterday, but that it was a proprietary eponym (brand name used as a replacement for the generic term - the same way many people say "Kleenex" instead of "tissue.") I don't know of any people younger than, say, their '60's who say "Frigidaire" instead of "refrigerator" - the brand has lost its status, I guess..Check out this link: http://www.rinkworks.com/words/eponyms.shtml Regards, Lou ************************************************************* To unsubscribe or set your subscription options, please go to http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=l-forwardlook&A=1
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