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'm sure they've gotten used to it by now, since the
Supreme Court decided in 1910 that _Webster's_ was a
generic.

Jesse Sheidlower
<jester at panix.com>