Product names

I was thinking about the fact that in America many products are referred to by the most popular brand name of that product.

For example, “Post-It“. It’s a brand-name…not actually the name for the adhesive memo paper. But nearly everyone in America uses the name “Post-It” as the generic name for this product.

I’m not even sure what the correct name of the product is in English!

In Japan, referring to a product by a brand-name is almost never done. How about in your country?

Here in Japan, those adhesive memo papers that are called 「タックメモ」 (tack-memo)…not “Post-It“.

In America, many products are referred to by a company’s name.

Other examples are:

“Coke“, “7-Eleven“, “Q-Tips“, “Jell-o“, “Xerox“, “Velcro“, “Thermos“, “Scotch Tape“, “Walkman“, and “Gameboy“.

The correct names for those products in English are:
“cola”, “convenience store”, “cotton swabs”, “gelatin dessert”, “copy machine”, “hook-and-loop tape”, “insulated beverage container”, “cellophane tape”, “portable music player”, and “portable game player”.

In Japanese they are:
「コーラ」 (cola), 「コンビニ」 (konbini (convenience store)), 「メンボー」 (menbou (cotton swabs)), 「ゼリー」 (jelly (gelatin dessert)), 複写機 (fukushaki (copy machine)), 「マジック・テープ」 (magic tape (hook-and-loop tape (Velcro))), 水筒 (suitou (insulated drink container)), 「セロファンテープ」 (cellophane tape), 「ウォークマン」 (Walkman ®), 「ゲームボーイ」 (Gameboy ®).