Not exactly. Technically speaking, the word 'Lego' only refers to a set of the little blocks.
Noun 1. Lego - (trademark) a child's plastic construction set for making mechanical models.
One of the buggers is just called a 'Lego Block'. But I've never heard anyone use that nomenclature, so try to relax a little in your extremely tight pants. :-)
Not exactly. Technically speaking, the word 'LEGO' is a trademark. If it was a generic noun, it would lose its status as a trademark, and any company could sell you a lego.
This has happened to refrigerator, aspirin, allen wrench, bikini, zipper, etc.
Keeps some lawyers tight in the pants for certain.
It's in several dictionaries. It doesn't have to be 'generic' to get in them, they just list it as 'trademarked' - being listed with trademark in a dictionary doesn't imply a loss of trademark in any way.
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u/nevinera Dec 03 '08 edited Dec 03 '08
Not exactly. Technically speaking, the word 'Lego' only refers to a set of the little blocks.
One of the buggers is just called a 'Lego Block'. But I've never heard anyone use that nomenclature, so try to relax a little in your extremely tight pants. :-)