Eponyms as nouns and verbs (Easy)

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute Vocabulary with me Callum.

Finn

And me Finn. Today were talking about words Hoover and Xerox, which started as

brand names of particular products, but now are often used to refer to similar

products.

Callum

And some of them are also used as verbs. Words like these are called eponyms.

Finn

will be a quiz; and of course well bring you a top tip for learning vocabulary.

Callum

But first listen to Cath. Shes chatting a bit about brand names that have become part

of the language.

Finn

And you listen, think about this question: how does Cath say do you use Facebook?

INSERT

Cath

‘’Ill google it.’ many times a day do you think or say that? Google is the number one

search engine today and sometimes talk about googling even when theyre using a

different search engine, like Bing or Yahoo. In the same Facebook is number one for

social networking and Skype for web chats. So do you facebook or skype your ?

And how often do you xerox a document or go rollerblading?

STING

Callum

Right, that was Cath. And we : how does she say do you use Facebook?

Finn

And the answer is she said ‘do you facebook your ?’

Callum

Thats right. Cath uses facebook as a verb because Facebook has become so much a part

of our that we need a verb to talk about using it.

Finn

So thats a bit like the word Hoover, it?

Callum

Exactly. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the Hoover brand was the biggest name

among vacuum . Thats why we say that we hoover our carpets.

Finn

But today that means ‘use any vacuum cleaner’, doesnt ? Not just the Hoover brand.

Callum

It does. So in fact thats a bit different from the verb to . That only means to use

the Facebook site. But who knows? It might change and be used more generally the

future to refer to other social media sites. Now lets have our first clip?

INSERT 1 CLIP 1

‘’ google it.’ How many times a day do you think or say that? Google is the number one

search today and people talk about googling even when theyre using a different

search engine like Bing or Yahoo.

Finn

, thats another example, a bit like Hoover. Theres the verb to google, the brand name

Google, and the noun to talk about the activity of using Google.

Callum

Yes, and like hoover and hoovering are good for other cleaner brands, people

can be using any search engine when they use the verb google and the noun googling.

One thing to remember is that trademark names like Google, Facebook and Hoover

should have a capital letter. But verbs and nouns that come from these names dont’.

Callum

Mmm. On to clip 2.

INSERT 1 CLIP 2

the same way Facebook is number one for social networking and Skype for web chats.

So do you facebook skype your friends? And how often do you xerox a document or

go rollerblading?

Finn

So, Callum, what do do when we use Skype?

Callum

Well, we skype!

Finn

We do. Skyping is a popular way to contact and business colleagues around the

world. And this software has given up this new verb, to skype, And then threw in a

couple of other examples of this type of word, didnt she?

Callum

Yes, she talked about a document. Xerox is often used to mean photocopy,

both noun and verb, and it comes from the company , which ptroduced the first

plain paper photocopier.

Finn

But we should mention that this is an American English expression, not one we use very

often in British English.

Callum

She also mentioned going rollerblading. Rollerblade is a brand inline skates that

became so popular that we now have the verb to rollerblade and the noun rollerblading.

Finn

today theyre used whatever brand of inline skates were using.

Callum

Other common words like these are Kleenex meaning kind of paper tissue and

Aspirin for painkillers. But they dont have verbs to go with them.

IDENT

Youre to BBC Learning English.

Callum

And were talking about eponyms as nouns and verbs.

Finn

And time for the ! Number one: How else can I say do the vacuuming?

Callum

Its do the hoovering.

Finn

It is! Number : Whats another way of saying: I often talk to my friends on Skype?

Callum

Its I often skype my .

Finn

Excellent! Number three: What does: Would you like a Kleenex mean?

Callum

It means: Would you like a ?

Callum

Correct! And thats the end of the quiz. Facebook your friends if you got them all right!

Callum

before we go, heres todays top tip. If the name of an object has a capital letter, its’

probably its an eponym from a brand. Look it up in a dictionary, where it should

be labelled ‘’trademark��’, and whether there are useful verbs or nouns that come from

it. Practise making new sentences with those words.

Finn

more about this at bbclearningenglishcom.. Join us again for more 6 Minute

Vocabulary.

Both

Bye!