gneeric "Websters"

[Jesse T Sheidlower]

Ron Butters wrote:
>
> << Why would any scholar forget to check the OXFORD version of Websters??>>
>
> This is really an interesting use of "Websters"! This is like saying, "the
> SCOTT version of Kleenex" or "the GE version of Hoover"; apparently
> "Websters" has now become totally generic, like aspirin. Some people in
> Massachusetts are not going to like this one bit.

I responded to this before, but it seems not to have
gotten through.

The name "Webster's" has been generic since 1915 (not
1910, as I erroneously wrote in my previous message),
according to the Supreme Court. Those people in
Massachusetts have had some time to get used to it.

Jesse Sheidlower
<jester at panix.com>