BS: nature abhors a vacuum

Subject: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Mr Red
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:08 AM

it sucks.
fair makes my blood boil.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:22 AM

Know what you mean. That would be down to the absence of 'anything'. Probably make all of you boil if it was a total vacuum.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:30 AM

We go through at least one vacuum a year. I'm not sure whether it's that nature abhors them or that they're just not made very well. Or maybe it's my wife's overly aggressive style of vacuuming.

(Brits et al substitute "hoover" for "vacuum".)

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:44 AM

Funny that, how your William Henry gave his name to a machine which has become synonymous with a certain household task here in the UK, but the same thing didn't happened in the US.

Could that be because of the counter-influence of J. Edgar?

I try not to vacuum (Hoover), I use a brush and dustpan routinely, then just open all the doors when it's really windy.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: fat B****rd
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:45 AM

I risk all by Dyson with death.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 10:49 AM

Sucked in by the vacuous advertising?

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Raggytash
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 11:11 AM

I've just sold a vacuum I wasn't using ......... well it was just gathering dust .....................






I'll get me coat.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 11:22 AM

Argghh. There should be a 'like' button on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 12:42 PM

I use a leaf blower in the house when my wife is gone. Much quicker than a vacuum cleaner.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Senoufou
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 12:58 PM

My husband does the hoovering here. He likes to pick up a bit of fluff now and again.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 05:04 PM

Funny that, how your William Henry gave his name to a machine which has become synonymous with a certain household task here in the UK, but the same thing didn't happened in the US.
Could that be because of the counter-influence of J. Edgar?

Nah. Over there a Hoover is just one dam thing after another ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 05:56 PM

There is a differece between blow and suck.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 06:43 PM

Cats and dogs abhor them too.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 07:02 PM

We HAD a carved Chinese carpet that strangled and killed 3 hoovers.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Ed T
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 08:16 PM

Vacuum Cleaner collectors club 

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 08:35 PM

Now, just so you know, Wikipedia says the Hoover Company wasn't tied to the former President:

The first upright vacuum cleaner was invented in June 1908 by Canton, Ohio department store janitor and occasional inventor James Murray Spangler (1848-1915). Spangler was an asthmatic, and suspecting the carpet sweeper he was using at work was the cause of his ailment, he created a basic suction-sweeper by mounting an electric fan motor on a Bissell brand carpet sweeper then adding a soap box and a broom handle. After refining the design and obtaining a patent for the Electric Suction Sweeper[1] he set about producing it himself, assisted by his son, who helped him assemble the machines, and his daughter, who assembled the dust bags. Production was slow, completing just 2-3 machines a week.

Spangler then gave one of his Electric Suction Sweepers to his cousin Susan Troxel Hoover (1846-1925), who used it at home. Impressed with the machine, she told her husband and son about it. William Henry "Boss" Hoover (August 18, 1849 - February 25, 1932) and son Herbert William Hoover, Sr. (October 30, 1877 - September 16, 1954) were leather goods manufacturers in North Canton, Ohio, which at the time was called New Berlin. Hoover's leather goods business was not too threatened by the introduction of the motor car, but seeing a marketing opportunity, Hoover bought the patent from Spangler in 1908, founding the Electric Suction Sweeper Company with $36,000 capital, retaining Spangler as production supervisor with pay based on royalties in the new business. Spangler continued to contribute to the company, patenting numerous further Suction Sweeper designs until his death in 1915, when the company name was changed to the Hoover Suction Sweeper Company, with Spangler's family continuing to receive royalties from his original patent until 1925.

So, why isn't it called a "Spangler"?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: DMcG
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 11:45 PM

Because while a Hoover sounds like an actual thing, a Spangler sounds much more like a whatsit, a thingummybob or a doofer. Indeed, I would go so far as to say it sounds most like a generic term for tools: spanners, clamps, screwdrivers and so on. Doesn't feel right as a generic for dishcloths or scrubbing brushes.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 03:10 AM

Oooh! I much prefer the word Spangler! Makes me think of circuses, acrobats and tightrope walkers.
I'd be quite happy to do a bit of Spangling around the house rather than boring old Hoovering.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 03:30 AM

LOL

FWIW as has been hinted at, if an astronaut were shoved out in space without a suit, the first thing to happen would be his blood would boil. Something about boiling point and air (or lack thereof) pressure.

I have heard people using the verb "to dyson" more often these days.
&/or Henry.

Frank Skinner (UK comedian) tells the story (?) of when he was in Hampton Court, presumably filming out of hours - cleaners in attendance.
He remarked: they still had two Henry's (Henries?) in residence.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Senoufou
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 03:49 AM

My African husband's a school cleaner. He was shown all the equipment on his first day (years ago now, before he had fully mastered English) and came home ecstatic at all the fancy machinery - electric polishers, scrubbers "..and EVEN a machine you pull along with a long nose and it has a smiling FACE on the front!!!"
I gathered he meant a Henry. He replied, "It EVEN has a NAME??" Western civilisation could hold no delights greater than this.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 07:11 AM

Hoo ever :-) came up with the name and face for the Henry was a genius.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 01:23 PM

"Hoover" is a particular brand. Vacuum cleaner is a descriptive name for the appliance. Was there a time when all of the vacuum cleaners in the UK were "Hoovers?"

It is interesting that any company in the USA can put "aspirin" (a Bayer trademark) tablets on store shelf, while in Canada everyone but Beyer must call them ASA or spell out the chemical name.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Kampervan
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 01:43 PM

No, there was never a time when all vacuum cleaners were made by Hoover

Jetski, bubblewrap, Jacuzzi, hula hoop are just a few of the other registered names, specific to one manufacturer that have come to be used as generic titles for the product they made.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 02:22 PM

Velcro. Go Cart.

Subject: RE: BS: nature abhors a vacuum
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 04:01 PM

A fairly comprehensive list of genericized trademark names can be found HERE.


"Sharpie" as a generic for marker pen is on the list, but I remember when "Magic Marker" was the generic term for such markers. Magic Marker invented the marker pen in the 1950s and then lost so much off its market share to Sharpie that even the generic term changed.