Tue 27 Sep 2005
I loved the response on the last post! Thx everyone!
Erzulie posted a comment in the end mentioning kleenex and how its the name of the brand. Last post was about other languages mixing into Kuwaiti language. This time, lets try to see what brand names have become part of our daily language!
Branding, as I mentioned before, is one of my favorite subjects! Most of these became everyday words because of their ‘first mover advantage’, which means they were here before other brands of the same category. Also, advertising and so on helped, but mostly its because they were here first.
Here are a few I can think of, and borrowed from the comments in last post -
Pepsi = All soft drinks
Kleenex = tissues
Pampers = diapers
Hoover = vacuum
Durex = condom
Corn Flakes = cereal
Atari = video games
Mickey / Popeye = cartoons
Panadol = pain reliever pills ?
I love how words than a few people made up in a board room meeting somewhere in the US many many years ago to name their product, have become common words in Kuwaiti language! I bet u they didnt expect that!
There are many more I cant think of…. I dont just want the name of a leading company that alot of ppl use, I want a name that has been taken away from that company to define a whole category!
38 Responses to “More language…..and brands!”
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September 27th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
jeep for any 4X4 car
so people would say ” did you see BMW jeep ” while jeep is a brand
also i think thats commen in the usa , thats why some companies issue press relase saying that we shouldn’t use the name of their product like that .
September 27th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
boring
September 27th, 2005 at 12:10 pm
eee sa7 forza! I use the word jeep to describe any SUV or 4×4!
o it does happen in the US, but those companies that discourage it are doing it because they have to. I remember a case study in college about a company that lost the name of the brand and couldnt use it any more because it became so popular, so legally it was taken away from them since it has been used to describe the category for a number of years. I cant remember which company it was
Purg, 3ayal stick to ur exciting repent blog ;P
September 27th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Corn Flakes is not a brand, however Kellog’s is.
September 27th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
MA, sorry to disappoint u, but Corn Flakes is actually a brand name. It belongs to Kellogg’s, but just like Fruit Loops and Rice Krispies, it is a brand.
Go to Kellogg’s website, and check under the word “brands”, u will find Corn Flakes as a registered trademark.
September 27th, 2005 at 1:04 pm
IBM = computers 4 a while
Xerox = copying
September 27th, 2005 at 1:11 pm
my posts have deep meanings
September 27th, 2005 at 1:27 pm
Q, just add, Banka (fan), rang (colour), and chub to the list
September 27th, 2005 at 2:09 pm
Land Cruiser..
Many people call any ToYoTa car a “Land Cruiser”.
They see a Camry, & they go “wow check that salon Land Cruiser!!
They see an Avalon & they say “Now thats one good lookin AvA-Land Cruiser“…. etc.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
oh oh! this reminds me of a story my grand-daddy told me. He used to run the “Al-Wazzah” tea company, and Lipton was their #1 competitor. So one time a man came to them asking:
“عندكم لبتون الوزة؟”
“Do you have Alwazza-lipton?”
Now, to understand the question and the joke, you have to understand that the man (and others within his circles I’m sure) calls the tea-bags “Lipton”. So the man was asking if Alwazza produced their tea in tea-bags!
So..
Lipton = Tea-bag!
September 27th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Interested subject ,, Ok right now I think :
Maggi
Nescafe
Tang
Sahha (water)
September 27th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
off topic… well kinda…
بـس ودي أعرف… فلفل بوديك (الريد رووستار) ، ليش يسمونه دقوس؟؟
September 27th, 2005 at 2:48 pm
I’d say probably because its:
1-Red
2-Goes with everything (for some people)
September 27th, 2005 at 2:50 pm
Hey, also a bit off-topic but in the same area of word-play:
isn’t “covered-up pornography” an oxymoron??
it occured to me while reading some comments on “Ruby”’s performances.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:58 pm
بو غازي
سؤالك يذكري بسالفة لاند كروزور و ليلى علوي
قول إشلون
إخوانا اليمنيين بسمون سيارة لاند كروزور بإسم ليلى علوي
قبل كم سنة لما إخطفوا السياح الأجانب في اليمن و حاولوا أن يفاوضون الخاطفين و يعرفون مطالبهم
الخاطفين قالوا نطلب 60 ليلى علوي
اللحين عاد شوفلك شي حار و يمكن في البحر له علاقة بالدقوس
يمكن دقس
September 27th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
هم الوانيت يسمونه وانيت لانه اول وانيت في الكويت كانت ماركته ون ايت يعني 18 بالانجليزي
September 27th, 2005 at 3:46 pm
بوغازى
الكلمه جايه أساسا من
duck ass
لان فى الصوره كان عبالهم بطه رافعه خلفيتها و مع الوقت تحولت من دك اس الى دقوس
September 27th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
الحظ: هل كانت ماركته 18؟ وللا مكتوب عليه من ورا 1.8 لتر سعة المكينة؟
September 27th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
آسف كان قصدي chatterbox
September 27th, 2005 at 4:22 pm
Aspirin.
Penicillin.
“google it”
September 27th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
I notice alot of those in the states as well. Two differences though, alot of people in America use Coke for drinks instead of Pepsi, and trojans for condoms instead of durex.
September 27th, 2005 at 4:51 pm
T69, who calls computers IBMs? and Xerox is a good example but ive hardly heard it used in Kuwait by Kuwaitis.
purg, deep dish pizza ;P
q8sheikh, banka is a brand name? nver heard of rang :/
boghazi, thats also a new one to me, funny though!
mishari, lol! baaih memories of old ads is flashing through my mind!
الحظ الردي, sa77 Maggi is another great example, 7atta in recipes, they say Maggi instead of chicken or vegetable broth! o min gaallik ma kanaw yaboon laila 3ilwy ilsijjiya?
chatterbox, maybe thats true, but q80_demon’s explanation in the last post also helps explain -
The ever-popular anecdote about “Waneet” (=pickup truck). Is it a derivative of Vannette (= small van), or does it refer to a vehicle with 1/8th ton capacity, or simply the plate number of the first such truck in Kuwait?
BoMaryoom, hmmm, akhaaf ath7ak yi6la3 min sijjik!? :/
eeeee sa7 jandeef, thx for those! Thats what i meant above in my first comment!
September 27th, 2005 at 4:56 pm
William, welcome to my blog! And ur right many r used in the US too, but Pepsi is used here instead of Coke is simply because of the Arab boycott against products that did business with Israel. Coke did, Pepsi was smarter, they sacrificed one small country and got a huuuge audience all over! That is why they much more popular in this region, not bcz they did something political, but bcz they will available when Coke wasnt, so first mover advantage!
As for Trojans and Durex, Im not sure why thats the case, maybe bcz durex is a british product, and was here when the Brits were here.
September 27th, 2005 at 5:17 pm
qtips (kyootibs) for ehmmm q tips?
windex (windiks) for any window washing detergent
September 27th, 2005 at 5:35 pm
I thought Trojan was some kind of computer virus !!
September 27th, 2005 at 7:14 pm
I stand by what i said, branding is boring.
September 27th, 2005 at 9:44 pm
boghazi, since you quit smoking you have been acting strange, now you do not know what a trojan is.
September 28th, 2005 at 12:02 am
No Q, Banka is not a brand name, i guess i was just hanging on to the topic form the last topic about puncture and banchar.
September 28th, 2005 at 1:03 am
و الله يا مستر كيو إنت أبخص بالموضوع
بس إخوانا اليمنيين سموا لاند كروزور بإسم ليلى علوي تيمنا بمكوة ليلى علوي و اللي هي أكبر من مكوة روبي
طاح حظ برد اللي إختار دبة شيروكي
September 28th, 2005 at 8:56 am
Everything was IBM compatible before.
I say Xerox :p
September 28th, 2005 at 12:28 pm
Either because durex is british or because the “Trojan Maaaaan” commercials are on in the US like all the damn time. Interesting bit on the coke and pepsi thing. It makes sense now
Thanks for the welcome.
October 6th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Hi, I was looking around some blogger blogs for some ideas to start my own on ebooks and you have given me some great ideas. Good blog. I will check it out every week. Thanks
October 15th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
Help me Dude, I think I’m lost.
I was searching for Elvis and somehow ended up in your blog, but you know I’m sure I saw him in a car lot yesterday, which is really strange because the last time I saw him was in the supermarket.
No honest really, he was right there in front of me, next to the steaks singing “Love me Tender”.
He said to me (his lip was only slightly curled) “Boy, you need to get yourself a shiny, new lcd tv to go with that blue suede sofa of yours.
But Elvis said I, In the Ghetto nobody has a lcd tv .
Dude I’m All Shook Up said Elvis. I think I’ll have me another cheeseburger.
Then I’m gonna go round and see Michael Jackson and we’re gonna watch that waaaay cool surfing scene in Apocalypse Now on the lcdtv in the back of my Hummer.
And then he just walked out of the supermarket singing. . .
“You give me love and consolation,
You give me strength to carry on ”
Strange day or what?
November 14th, 2005 at 1:39 am
Hey guys – doing some research for a report. On the subject of Brands (Which you guys are obviously interested in), what do you think of the Burgan Bank Brand, and how would you change it if you could?
And if you were branding a whole new Bank in Kuwait, how would you do it / what would be the point of differentiation?
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June 24th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
myezlsy auopdwxgbe nlijpclq
June 25th, 2006 at 12:42 am
I like the idea of googles happy birthday warhol thing, but its not the most attractive of their logos, is it?
June 25th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
(And discreet lovers who know what Sexyland really is might understand why I still love catalogs.)