It’s those Greeks again! Only this time, the word has been almost directly lifted from the language. From antonomazein, the word means “to name differently”. The pronunciation stresses the first and second syllables, so reads something like: an-tonn-oh-may-sya (do let me know if my rubbish phonetics help or hinder your understanding. Thanks!).
In the real world, you might hear Elvis Presley referred to as “The King”, Eric Clapton as “Slowhand” or Cliff Richard as “The Talentless Waste of Vinyl” (OK, that last one was mine). These are all examples of antonomasia. For those of you who like football (the English variety), you will have heard of West Ham United referred to as “The Irons” or Charlton Athletic as “The Addicks” – again, these are examples of our Word du Jour.
In legal terms, the word refers to when a brand name passes into common use as a generic noun or verb. When did you last buy a vacuum flask – or did you buy a Thermos? Our American chums will ask for a Kleenex instead of a tissue. My personal favourite is the English verb “to Hoover” or “to do the Hoovering” when talking about a vacuum cleaner. Let us not forget, either, that the Oxford English Dictionary inaugurated the verb “to Google” into its hallowed pages earlier this year.
As far as I know our American cousins only have one term for what Brits would call a sticking plaster.
A ‘Band-aid’. That’s it.
Jacuzzi is a brand name, too, by the way.