April 27, 2002

9:33 PM

How well do you know your consumer products? It's a simple concept - you're given the generic name, you type in the brand name. The chance to be listed as a "winner" has long since passed, but it's still embarrassing to see how easy it is to get them all. blatantly stolen from a link on iconomy's blog.
posted by yhbc (24 comments total)

Okay, I should have added "if you're an American". I hope this hasn't been put up before - and here's one spoiler hint:









there is no single product named "coca-cola"

"ptfe" isn't styrofoam
posted by yhbc at 9:38 PM on April 27, 2002

um, what's "half frozen beverage"? I tried slurpie...
posted by delmoi at 9:48 PM on April 27, 2002

slurpee
posted by rhyax at 9:52 PM on April 27, 2002

(and teflon, not styrofoam) i had to look it up
posted by rhyax at 9:57 PM on April 27, 2002

Ha! Teflon was only my second guess after styrofoam, and I didn't have to look it up! Which, I guess, makes me ... oh dear lord, DEVO was right after all ...
posted by yhbc at 10:04 PM on April 27, 2002

What about unsolicited junk email? Yum! Ask for it by name. :)
posted by chipr at 10:17 PM on April 27, 2002

Polytetrafluoroethylene is spelled wrong on the page (ou -> uo).
posted by geoff. at 10:24 PM on April 27, 2002

Aspartame != poison?

(I misspelled slurpee too)
posted by joemaller at 12:38 AM on April 28, 2002

but weren't Icees around first anyway? Slurpees always seemed like a cheap imitation
posted by joemaller at 12:39 AM on April 28, 2002

cool, I won! Thanks to the teflon tip :)
posted by delmoi at 12:41 AM on April 28, 2002

Aspartame got me. What is that artificial sweetener stuff called?

Sidebar: the word for celophane tape in France is Scotch. In fact, when asking for any kind of sticky tape you ask for le scotch.
posted by Dick Paris at 12:55 AM on April 28, 2002

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener - like Nutrasweet or Sweet and Low (I think). Heard the question asked in a game of Trivial Pursuit.
posted by adrianhon at 3:35 AM on April 28, 2002

Actually Sweet N Low is saccharin.
posted by j at 6:50 AM on April 28, 2002

Aspartame = Nutrasweet
posted by andrewraff at 8:16 AM on April 28, 2002

"Counter-Top Laminate"

I'm totally stuck.
posted by Dark Messiah at 8:35 AM on April 28, 2002

Well, what are counter-tops usually made of? Not counter-top laminate, but F _ _ _ _ _ _.
posted by kindall at 8:49 AM on April 28, 2002

Name comes from a subsitute for mica, I believe.
posted by Dick Paris at 8:50 AM on April 28, 2002

Note that the Retail Alphabet Game on the same site is much, much harder.
posted by anastasiav at 8:52 AM on April 28, 2002

yea, aspartame's real brand name is nutrasweet, and they use nutrasweet to make equal, but they also use it to make diet coke, and lots of other stuff, so that one isn't exactly right...
posted by rhyax at 9:30 AM on April 28, 2002

Hmmm. Both nutrasweet and equal (my original response) are accepted as correct answers. Going over it again, I also find that both Coke and Pepsi are accepted as correct answers to "cola beverage". There's probably other questions where more than one answer is accepted. If someone wanted to, it looks they could keep a running total of the responses that are given as answers to measure the brands' relative "popularity", at least so far as the brand names have permeated the culture. Now I'm wondering if that's what this is really all about.
posted by yhbc at 11:21 AM on April 28, 2002

there is no single product named "coca-cola"

According to the Coca-Cola company, that is the product name.

'Coke' was an "elf-like sprite" (1941-1959 section) introduced to promote the use of the word 'Coke'. It has become the (un)official name for the product, and we all say 'Coke', but it is called "Coca-Cola".
posted by mikhail at 11:30 AM on April 28, 2002

I think that Icy's should have been accepted since the name is just a regional difference.
I bought my kid an Icy at 7-11 just yesterday here in Oklahoma, but out on the East Coast it would have been called a Slurpee.
posted by thatothrgirl at 5:42 PM on April 28, 2002

As an ex-Okie myself, I can attest to the fact that Icy Drinks and Slurpees are two different animals. The Icy is much smoother, more like a snow cone but only more saturated. A guy in high school had the theory that you could make your own Icy Drink by sawing a block of ice with a handsaw. Slurpees, OTOH, are little round ice nodules suspended in the syrup.

Just thought I'd throw that in.
posted by yhbc at 8:18 PM on April 28, 2002

yhbc - ah, thanks for the clarification.
To me that sounds like a slush, ala Sonic or called a Slush Puppy(ie) in some convenience stores and are in mostly fruity flavors, whereas, the Icy was mostly Coke, Dr. Pepper, and then maybe cherry - which made a cool mix. 'Course now, they are using Pepsico products, which means no Icy (or Slurpee) for me.
posted by thatothrgirl at 4:45 PM on April 29, 2002