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182 points NaOH | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.911s | source
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pge ◴[] No.41868506[source]
As an American growing up in the late 70s/early 80s, we called all die-cast metal cars “matchbox cars,” even though many (all?) of them were Hot Wheels. I never knew there were two competing brands.
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TacticalCoder ◴[] No.41868619[source]
Growing up in a french speaking country, we'd call all ballpoint pens "bic".

Because of this:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bic_(entreprise)

Up to this day many still say, on a daily basis, say, a "bic bleu" (blue ballpen) or "bic noir" (black ballpen).

And virtually everyone french speaking calls a refrigerator (fridge) a "frigo".

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1. dghf ◴[] No.41869083[source]
In the UK, any ballpoint pen is commonly a biro for similar reasons.
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2. alias_neo ◴[] No.41869188[source]
Hoover, Cellotape, Pritt-Stick, Velcro, Coke, iPad, Google, WD40, Fairy liquid...

Some were so ubiquitous that I grew up not knowing some of the things we say are actually brands until I was older.