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U.S. Synonymous Trademarks

We give you the generic term. You give us the brand name that means the same thing.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 16, 2021
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First submittedSeptember 22, 2010
Times taken64,470
Average score62.5%
Rating4.04
5:00
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Generic Term
Trademark
Artificial turf
AstroTurf
Adhesive bandage
Band-Aid
Bleach
Clorox
Lip balm
ChapStick
Flying disc
Frisbee
Web search
Google
4-wheel drive vehicle
Jeep
Gelatin dessert
Jell-O
Stadium-size television
JumboTron
Facial tissue
Kleenex
Elevator music
Muzak
Sticky notes
Post-Its
Generic Term
Trademark
Cotton swabs
Q-Tips
Vacuum-sealed beverage holder
Thermos
Inline skates
Rollerblades
Clear tape
Scotch Tape
Swim briefs
Speedo
Stun gun
Taser
Acetaminophen
Tylenol
Petroleum jelly
Vaseline
Vacuum cleaner
Hoover
Recreational vehicle
Winnebago
Photocopier
Xerox
Portable tape player
Walkman
+1
Level 70
Nov 27, 2015
Lipsyl should be accepted for the lip balm as that's what it is in the UK
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2015
Never heard of that, and if I was to ask you for a lip balm, I'd ask for a chapstick, and I didn't even know it was a brand name. That, pretty much, is the point of the quiz.
+1
Level 83
Jun 8, 2016
It's lypsyl, but I agree it should be accepted. I haven't heard it in a while but I'm sure at one point the term was really common.
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
Labello is the generic name here for it, coming from a brandname. I never knew chapstick was a brand, allways thought it was the english name for it, same with rollerblades.
+1
Level 35
Nov 27, 2015
As a Brit, seriously?! Accept Jelly, Sellotape, Plaster, cotton buds... And a recreational vehicle is a winnebago? wtf
+13
Level 70
Nov 27, 2015
Are those brand names? Because if not, you're completely missing the point of this quiz.
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2015
As a Brit it becomes about how much American culture you've absorbed through decades of sitcoms. I found it relatively easy. Ironically the one I missed, the bleach, is a product I've actually bought, twenty years ago in Kuwait. Couldn't make it come to mind. I even knew the headache tablet because of a Gary Larson cartoon, but elsewhere I've suggested they accept aspirin, because that too is a brand name. (As is heroin!)
+2
Level 79
Apr 21, 2021
I think you missed the point of this quiz. It's brand names. Also, this is an American site predominately filled with Americans. This site is geared toward American culture. We ALL know this. Why would they accept random British answers? There are 196 ? countries, UK is a population of only about 65 mil. Should they accept all possible answers from all countries? You have to draw the line somewhere.
+1
Level 82
Nov 27, 2015
What Americans know as Scotch Tape we "Brits" call Sellotape. but back in the 1970's, when the BBC had very strict rules regarding brand names, the presenters of Blue Peter faithfully referred to it as Sticky Back Plastic...

Yes, utterly daft... :)

+3
Level 65
Nov 27, 2015
Erm, no. Sticky back plastic is not sellotape - it's a sort of adhesive vinyl, usually coloured or patterned, used to cover things quickly. Like plastic wallpaper :)

(Anybody who has ever watched Blue Peter should know this...)

+1
Level 83
Jun 8, 2016
If you had watched Blue Peter you would know that they do in fact *erroneously* refer to Sellotape as sticky-backed plastic. It annoyed the hell out of me.
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
FYI in the U.S. we call this contact paper, and indeed Con-Tact® is a trademark referred to generically, though I don't know whether it was named after the generic name or the other way around.
+2
Level 75
Nov 27, 2015
I thought Winnebago had pretty much been replaced by RV. And Jeep has became a wide-selling consumer brand of SUV. Nobody in my area calls any other brand a Jeep. There are 4 x 4's, SUVs, ATVs etc. but no one calls their 4WD Dodge Ram, Hummer, or F-150 a Jeep. It's generic only when referring to military vehicles, at least in my area of the mid-south US.
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2015
Possibly the quiz is for people who've been alive for more than a decade or two. It may have become more correct or fashionable lately to refer to 4x4s by those other terms, but for many decades after WW2 they were all Jeeps, whether or not they were built by Willys. Same goes for the RV. The point of the quiz is to please those people who know they're called RVs nowadays, but who remember back a while when, no matter who built them, they would be called Winnebagoes. In the UK the Robin Williams movie "RV" had to be given the subtitle "Runaway Vacation" because we don't know what RVs are!
+5
Level 75
Nov 27, 2015
I suspect I'm of the same generation as you. I was screaming in front of the TV when the Beatles first appeared on Ed Sullivan. I knew the answers, I'm just saying that a couple of these are no longer used, at least in my neck of the woods. And I don't think we ever used Hoover as a verb. We always vacuumed. Still a fun quiz, though.
+2
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
Almost eight years later and ander217 is even more right. I don't think Jeep or Winnebago are commonly used generically anymore, and haven't been for some time.
+1
Level 55
Nov 27, 2015
We don't really have the acetominaphen one in the UK. I think to be fair to other people around the world you should accept "aspirin" because that is also a brand name for more or less the same product. May I also suggest changing the clue "Recreational Vehicle" to "motor home", which is recognizable on both sides of the Atlantic.
+2
Level 38
Jun 16, 2016
No, in the UK you call it Paracetamol, just like us Aussies. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, different again.
+3
Level 47
Nov 27, 2015
As you said, some of them only apply in certain countries. How about creating some quizzes as a series, such as international trademarks, American, British, Canadian, Australian, etc.?
+4
Level 74
Nov 27, 2015
All these years I had no idea there was a vacuum hiding in my thermos.
+1
Level 84
Nov 29, 2015
Yeah, I'm stumped on that one, too.
+1
Level 83
Sep 25, 2017
I seem to remember doing an entire dull Physics lesson about the mechanics of a Thermos flask. That's how I knew.
+2
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
There is a black hole in there..
+1
Level 74
Apr 22, 2021
I guess technically my thermos contains an infinite hoover.
+1
Level 56
Nov 28, 2015
I haven't heard of most of these. But more importantly, no Pampers? It was the first thing that came to my mind when reading the title.
+2
Level 84
Nov 29, 2015
How exactly is a Thermos a vacuum-sealed beverage holder? Do people suck all of the air out and then put the cap on really fast?
+1
Level 72
Jun 7, 2016
my thoughts exactly. The vacuum sealed part really threw me off
+9
Level 68
Dec 13, 2016
The layer between the inner bottle and the outer shell is where the vacuum is. Vacuum is a better insulator than any other common insulation.
+1
Level 72
Mar 3, 2020
that makes sense, thank you
+5
Level 91
Apr 21, 2021
Yes, it's not vacuum-sealed, it's vacuum insulated.
+1
Level 3
Nov 29, 2015
I really like this quiz, some were hard but that is what makes it fun, nice job!
+1
Level 35
Dec 4, 2015
OOH NICE
+1
Level 43
Feb 23, 2016
Good quiz :) Like the idea
+2
Level 75
Apr 22, 2016
Please add Lypsyl for lip balm?
+1
Level 81
Jun 15, 2016
I can't believe I missed Speedo. I had to wear one of those for years as a kid on the swim team.
+2
Level 48
Aug 19, 2017
Anyone outside the US is doomed to 50% :(
+3
Level 76
Feb 4, 2018
Coming from Germany, this is difficult. I know lip balm as "Labello" and tissues as "Tempo" for example
+1
Level 61
Feb 22, 2018
Literally who says half of this stuff
+3
Level 81
Mar 12, 2018
Almost everyone where I'm from. It might just be a regional thing, but in the NorthEast US, almost all of these are everyday terms. Yesterday I went to the story to get Q-tips, Kleenex, and Clorox. Then I asked my daughter if she packed her Thermos today. No joke.
+1
Level 84
Aug 24, 2023
I don't know that I've ever heard anyone say "Xerox". I've been asked to photocopy stuff plenty of times. I also don't think I've heard "Clorox" when they meant bleach. Might be a Canadian thing.
+1
Level 41
Mar 1, 2018
I never realized that Thermos was a brand. I thought the actual name for the thing was a thermos.
+1
Level 51
Jan 8, 2019
Great idea but I only got 2. And you know the one. This is only for USA and I am in Europe.
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
Im from europe and got 16/24. I guess it depends how easily you absorb "knowledge" and the amount of exposure to it by tv, books, internet. But yes it is a 99% american quiz. But in my opinion still doable (enough words you atleast COULD have heard of outside of the us, either because of more widespread use, or it is use SO much that you could hardly miss it if you have ever seen /read american stuff) As opposed to some questioms in some quiz where there really is no way of knowing
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
I only see the caveat now haha,, that's cute. Well unless it is said with malice/contempt etc
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
Curious which two though,, since there are a few internationals on there. Google, frisbee, walkman, postit. And kleenex and vaseline are brands in a lot of countries. I believe thats all of them, ow yea, jeep. The others I merely got from exposure. (Assimilate, resistance is futile, apparently, massbrainwashing lol)
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
Got 16/24 rollerblades crossed my mind but was certain it wasnt a brand. Didnt think thermos was a brand either, allways thought it was a lazy way for americans to say thermoscan lol (as it is know here). Band-aid i, do know, but could only come up with hansaplast and leukoplast. Never heard of winebago in my life, and not sure about tylenol (pretty sure I havent) and astro turf, (might have, but must ve piled it in the same category as surf and turf, a weird saying nothing to do with what we call turf, what you call peat)
+1
Level 66
Jan 8, 2019
Ow and never heardheard of clorox (but we have chlorix here but never use it as a generic name, we use the term chloor though, but that is the same word as chlorine is for you). And jumbotron, sounds like magnetron (microwave) but a big one haha
+1
Level 58
Aug 31, 2019
As a brit, giving the names for what i call everything:

artificial turf - astro turf

adhesive bandage - plaster

bleach - bleach

lip balm - lip balm

flying disc - frisbee

web search - google

4-wheel drive - 4x4 (4 by 4 verbally)

gelatin dessert - jelly

stadium sized tv - big screen?

facial tissues - tissues

elevator music - no word

sticky notes - post-its

cotton swabs - cotton buds

vacuum-sealed beverage holder - flask

inline skates - rollerblades

clear tape - sellotape

swim briefs - speedo/trunks

stun gun - taser

acetaminophen - paracetemol (had to google that)

petroleum jelly - vaseline

vacuum cleaner - hoover/vacuum cleaner

recreational vehicle - i have no idea what this is

photocopier - photocopier

portable tape player - no word for this.

i got 9/24.

+1
Level 84
Mar 3, 2020
Also a Brit and muzak, thermos and walkman are (or were) all used here. A recreational vehicle is a motorhome, like a bigger version of a campervan. Knew that one from the movie Space Balls! Got 22. Heard of Tylenol and Clorox but didn't know what they were exactly.
+1
Level 82
Apr 22, 2021
In the UK I think the word for an RV (recreational vehicle) or Winnebago is a caravan. Nobody in the US would say caravan. The term "motorhome" applies both places, though is more common in the UK. In the US we might also say "mobile home."
+1
Level 74
Apr 23, 2021
In Australia, and I think the UK, "caravan" refers only to what Americans call a Trailer. An RV/Winnebago is usually a "motorhome"
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
In the UK a caravan is actually a liveable home that is generally towed to its destination by a car. An RV is generally called a motorhome here
+1
Level 78
Dec 18, 2023
I would agree largely with joshuil above.

We do say Walkman (well, we used to when they were used) and muzak though.

Clorox, Tylenol, JumboTron are new to me.

Winnebago, Scotch tape, Q-Tips, Jell-O, Band-Aid, Kleenex, are just not used, although I knew them from watching TV.

Another good quiz :)

+1
Level 78
Dec 18, 2023
Who doesn't know this? :D

"That's right. I'm Tucker McElroy, lead singer, driver of the Winnebago"

+1
Level 77
Mar 3, 2020
13/24. I guess it is good for someone from UK
+3
Level 76
Aug 23, 2020
The Thermos clue is oddly worded. Possibly using the description "insulated" in lieu of vacuum-sealed might bring the percentage up quite a bit.
+1
Level 73
Apr 21, 2021
I hear Dyson more than Hoover
+2
Level 74
Apr 21, 2021
Did anybody notice they're in alphabetical order except for Clorox/ChapStick, Thermos, Hoover, and Xerox/Walkman?
+1
Level 83
Apr 21, 2021
Indeed. I would attribute my missing of the vacuum brand to the almost-alphabetical list.
+2
Level 67
Apr 21, 2021
I would argue that a (spoiler ahead) thermos is more of a vacuum-insulated beverage holder than a vacuum-sealed one.
+1
Level 67
Aug 30, 2023
Woah, I don't know why I knew about this.
+1
Level 62
Apr 21, 2021
I'm American and I haven't heard half of these, and I only use like 4 of them.
+1
Level 75
Apr 21, 2021
Tried napalm for petroleum jelly.
+2
Level 62
Apr 21, 2021
As a Canadian, the only one I had never heard of was Muzak. I would say that Winnebago and Clorox are less popular here, we would more likely say RV and Javex.
+1
Level 62
Apr 21, 2021
We also use "chesterfield" for sofa here though, so were weird.
+1
Level 43
Apr 21, 2021
I disagree as a Canadian. Winnebago was very common use in Canada back in the day. Sure, not anymore. I'd say RV was an American expression and took awhile to catch on. Motorhome was more common.
+3
Level 57
Apr 21, 2021
Who calls just any 4 wheel drive vehicle a Jeep though?
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
I think we probably did before SUVs became so widespread. I don't think anyone has used a walkman for a decade or so surely
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
Maybe in the '50s, '60s or possibly '70s? Both off-roading and what we now call SUVs have exploded so much in popularity people no longer think of them all as "Jeeps". Even the most Jeepy non-Jeep you can buy, a Hummer H2, would be referred to as a kind of Jeep by almost no one, at least in the U.S.
+1
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
My area would just say bleach, copy machine, RV, vacuum, and elevator music. Only missed RV though.
+2
Level 43
Apr 21, 2021
jacuzzi as a hot tub is always top of my list. Champaign as a sparkling wine is world wide.
+1
Level 63
Apr 21, 2021
Great quiz! Tupperware is another good one, if you feel like making a version 2.
+2
Level 67
Apr 21, 2021
Clorox feels like a reach, and I've never heard anyone call a vacuum a "Hoover." Even people who own Hoover vacuums just call them "vacuums." The others all check out.
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
Hoover as a generic is specific to Britain.

I've heard Clorox used generically but it seems like it's on the wane, possibly because bleach as a whole is less popular (for both clothing and cleaning)?

+1
Level 64
Apr 21, 2021
I had no idea "Rollerblades" was a brand name.
+3
Level 79
Apr 21, 2021
Some of you European (particularly British) folks have to get over your gripe that this website is too US-centric and that the quizzes don't accept every single answer that is common in your own country.

You are on an American website that is predominantly used by Americans and is centered, naturally, around American culture. Every single quiz some Brit is griping that their extremely, uniquely British answer is not accepted. Why would it be? All due respect, you are a small country. No one in the US or other countries has probably ever heard of what you're talking about. Again, this is a site focused on American culture and everyone knows it. Create a British focused site. These comments get so annoying.

Imagine if an American went on a British site that was known to be centered around British culture with British spellings of words and they complained on every quiz that their American answer wasn't accepted. We all know how that would go for the ever-loathed American!

+2
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
Yes. Because American culture is the most important culture in the world, and Americans don't need to learn anything new or be aware of any other country. Other countries are so annoying!
+3
Level 79
Apr 21, 2021
Re-read my comment really closely. And really think about what I am saying. These comments get so tired. They are disingenuous and you know it. We get it, Americans are ignorant, narrow-minded, and just know nothing about the world. Yep, that's all of us. Again, American culture is NOT the most important in the whole world. But you are on an American website predominantly filled with Americans that IS centered around American culture.

And, also, this website is literally filled to the brim with quizzes that are centered around all types of topics and countries. There are so many things to learn on this site. But a quiz like this, you KNOW it is going to be referring to the American brands.

+3
Level 67
Apr 22, 2021
kiwiquizzer's response is almost impossibly dumb. Nobody said other countries aren't worth knowing about. The average Jetpunker knows way more about foreign countries than the average citizen of any country. The comment was just that this is an American site, so the questions tend to favor the American knowledge base. That doesn't mean the site and its users shun other cultures, just as people who eat at a Chinese restaurant are not shunning other cultures. This position keeps popping up on this website, and it's every bit as dumb this time as it was every other time.
+2
Level 78
Apr 22, 2021
What kiwiquizzer read bears no resemblance to what ajc2270 wrote. I agree with ajc and jmellor but would like to add something about the "create a Brisih website" comment. It's not going to happen. Only an American quiz site can get as big as Jetpunk, perhaps with the exception of China, but a Chinese Jetpunk would be heavily censored and therefore vastly inferior. So we non-Americans resort to this site and put up with the fact that most of the knowledge pertaining to our countries is considered obscure here.
+1
Level 66
Aug 24, 2023
I guess you mean it as a joke; but American culture is probably the most important culture in the world (especially 1940-2000 I'd guess). Maybe more so in 2023 with globalization/internet in the hands of even the impoverished around the globe - I'd guess you could argue either way. I don't think many non-Americans would (outside of regional arguments). I'm sure an argument for US reach could be made just with documented foreign welfare interactions
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
A lot of the "complaints" you're reading were clearly from a time before the quiz was marked U.S. trademarks. Now that it's so marked, it matches the content better but it artificially makes it seem like those "complaints" are misdirected.

An American website can still have an international audience. I don't love people complaining about any American facts appearing on a trivia quiz, or confusing the UK with the rest of the world (which is common in these kinds of complaints) but likewise, there's no reason to get all American hegemony about it.

+1
Level 68
Apr 22, 2021
Thanks to the Simpsons for a lot of these (and my knowledge of American culture/history/anything in general)
+2
Level 77
Apr 22, 2021
If you do a sequel, does the US use X-acto knives? How about Sharpies?
+1
Level 71
Aug 23, 2023
It does but I don't think they're used generically. Like I don't think most people would call a magic marker a sharpie.
+1
Level 68
Apr 22, 2021
Great quiz, thanks. Always great to learn about other countries.
+1
Level 74
Apr 22, 2021
One suggestion: make the "recreational vehicle" more specific (like recreational camper, or recreation motor vehicle) -- or else accept ski-doo and sea-doo, since those are both correct and also fit the parameters of the quiz.
+2
Level 76
Apr 24, 2021
Mason jars could be used in the sequel
+1
Level 40
Apr 25, 2021
Bruh, I missed the flying disc one and put UFO instead of frisbee. -_-
+4
Level 63
Apr 26, 2021
You could add Dumpster to this list or a future iteration of it. It surprised me to find out that Dumpster is a brand name for "moveable waste container"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster

+1
Level 53
May 21, 2023
Advil should work for acetaminophen
+3
Level ∞
Jul 18, 2023
Advil is ibuprofen.
+1
Level 65
Aug 23, 2023
Hey QM, thanks for stealing my idea!

Genericized Brand Names

+5
Level 75
Aug 23, 2023
A quick check shows that this quiz was created 7 years before yours.
+2
Level 76
Aug 23, 2023
I also find it funny to be complaining about theft of intellectual property regarding quizzes about genericized trademarks.
+1
Level 81
Aug 23, 2023
Walkman is from Sony, so it's not US; it's Japanese.
+1
Level 67
Aug 23, 2023
For some reason I tried Kleenex with a C and Q-Tip as Cue
+1
Level 51
Aug 23, 2023
Can there be blistex for the lip balm one please. I don't know if that brand is common anywhere else. I am from Canada.
+1
Level 84
Aug 24, 2023
In my day, it was Lypsyl in Canada. Now I think most people say Chapstick.
+1
Level 76
Aug 24, 2023
Maybe it's regional. I have never referred to a vacuum cleaner as a Hoover--just a vacuum. And I almost always use RV, not Winnebago. I'm guilty of most of the rest.