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.
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.
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!)
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.
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...
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...)
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.
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.
I thought Winnebago had pretty much been replaced by RV.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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.?
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.
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.
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
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)
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)
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
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)?
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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"
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.
Yes, utterly daft... :)
(Anybody who has ever watched Blue Peter should know this...)
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.
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 :)
"That's right. I'm Tucker McElroy, lead singer, driver of the Winnebago"
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)?
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!
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.
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster
Genericized Brand Names