Marketing's Encroachment on the English Language

I find it interesting that name brands can become such a part of our lives that we begin to use them as verbs. For example, "I'll FedEx that to you." Or: "Could you Xerox this for me?" Sure, people know what you are trying to say. However, it could be confusing if you're waiting for a FedEx delivery and a different delivery van arrives.

Some brand names have become the name of choice for a particular product too, such as: Scotch tape, Kleenex and Rollerblades. I capitalize these because they are still name brands, not generic names -- even though most people refer to them that way. It would be interesting to see if these brands are the top sellers over their competition simply because of the familiarity of their names.