Five common French words that are in fact company names
Just like in English, many trademarks slip into common usage
Both caddies and scotch have slipped into common usage in French, but are actually company names
Philippe Clement / Hadrian /Shutterstock
The French language, just like English, has become littered with words that began as commercial trademarks but which have slipped into common use. Here are five of the most common.
Every day we utter names like linoleum, hoover, thermos, laser as if they never had capital letters and were always simple appellatives.
In both languages, the common denominator in this process, which is technically a kind of antonomasia, is that it is much quicker to say a short and snappy brand name than to construct a new phrase describing the thing in question.
While most companies either do not mind suffering from ‘trademark erosion’, or accept they can do nothing about it in informal speech, in formal contexts care must be taken not to be too free and easy with a registered brand name.
Read more: How does living in France affect your English?
Caddie
You park outside the supermarket and the first thing you do is get a trolley. In French this essential bit of shopping apparatus is a caddie which most people think of as a generic noun starting with a lowercase C.
In fact, Caddie is the proper name of a firm that made trolleys (it went out of business in July after a century of making trolleys). The alternative is chariot de supermarché which is six syllables longer.
K-way
Every outdoors person is almost certain to possess at least one impermeable, hooded nylon windcheater that scrunches up small into a pouch. In English we call such a garment it a cagoule (derived from French).
In France it is universally known by the name of the company that introduced their version to the market in 1965. If you do not want to engage in product placement on your hiking trips you need to say you are wearing a coupe-vent imperméable.
Kärcher
All publicity is good, you would have thought, but the company that makes the most popular high-water-pressure cleaning machines in France has objected to having its brand name used metaphorically by politicians who keep saying they want to 'kärcher' delinquents and hoodlums off the streets of France.
To use a nettoyeur à haute pression as a crime-busting tool just does not have the same rhetorical ring to it…
Placoplatre
Look around you, at the walls and ceiling, and what you will probably see, but not be aware of seeing, are large sheets of plasterboard cut to size and painted over.
These vital items of pre-fab interior renovation are known by the name of the leading manufacturer. Builders often refer to them as simply, placo.
Scotch.
We call it Sellotape, another trademark. In France they call it Scotch, which is not to be confused with whisky. To be specific, you need to ask for sticky tape, ruban adhésif.
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