Where's molly?

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Monday, April 9, 2001 8:56 am +0800 Laurence Horn
<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:

> At 8:17 AM -0400 4/9/01, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>> I don't know why "Molly" [earlier slang? wife's name? made of molybdenum
>> steel? ...], but this is a US trademark for expansion bolts (serial #
>> 71350938, says the USPTO), dating from 1934.
>>
> Thanks for the history, and I do like the molybdenum derivation, but
> I maintain that trademark or no, it's used generically (like scotch
> tape, xerox, coke, jello, and band-aid) for plastic expansion bolts
> used for dry-wall mounting, regardless of manufacturer and thus ought
> to be listed.


Really?  I thought the generic name was "those thingies".

Lynne

M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320