PDF as a Verb

[Benjamin Barrett]

Me, too! If someone said they were going to FedEx something and it came next
day USPS, I'd think they had a change of plans. BB

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Baker, John

        I still think of FedEx as being specific to Federal Express, whose
registered trademark it is.  Maybe that just shows I'm not up on the current
usage.  Maybe it's something that varies by area or context, like Coke, a
registered trademark for Coca-Cola that means just that in some places, but
means any caramel-flavored carbonated beverage in others.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Laurence Horn

One difference is that "to FedEx", which does indeed mean 'to ship by an
express/overnight service" doesn't build in the company name, so it's a true
example of incipient genericide (like "to xerox" was), while "to PDF" still
assumes the Adobe program and hence isn't a true generic--it's more like "to
google", which for most people does involve utilizing Google itself, rather
than just any old search engine--at least for now.

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