--- In [email protected], "uns_tressor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "sparaig" <sparaig@> wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > --- In [email protected], MDixon6569@ wrote: > > > > In a message dated 2/4/06 5:40:39 P.M. Central Standard Time, > > > > sparaig@ writes: > > > > > > > > Except the TMO owns the name and possession is 9/10's of the > > law. > > > > > > > > I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think > > > > the TMO owns the name Transcendental Mediation Program, but not > > > > Transcendental Meditation. > > > > Any meditation technique that assists one to transcend could > be > > > > called transcendental meditation. Seems I heard that some > > > > court had made the TMO ad > > > > Program to the trade mark name for this reason. > > > > > > Not true. The issue never went to court; the change > > > was dictated by trademark/copyright lawyers consulted > > > by the TMO during the early 70s, who instructed them > > > on the proper use of a trademark. That is, trademarks > > > should always be used as an *adjective*, not a noun. > > > > > > So the TMO is selling the TM program or the TM technique, > > > not TM. One pushes dirt with a Caterpillar tractor, not > > > a Caterpillar. One sneezes into a Kleenx tissue, not a > > > Kleenex. Etc. > > > > > > If one doesn't use the trademark properly, one can lose > > > it. For example, there was once a trademarked brand of > > > toilet called a Crapper, but their trademark went into > > > the crapper. :-) > > > > > > > Named for John Crapper, who invented the flush toilet. > > > > By the way, why do you think they're called "johns?" > > It was Sir Thomas Crapper, plumber by appointment to > King Edward VII. Really, lads, don't they teach you > anything at MIU? > http://www.thomas-crapper.com/history04.htm >
From: http://www.wordorigins.org/index.htm Crap/Craps No, Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet and thus give his name to posterity. The word crap, meaning excrement, is from the Old French, via Middle English, crappe, which stood for the grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn. The word originally derives from the Latin crappa. But there was a Thomas Crapper, 1837-1910, who was a Victorian plumbing engineer and businessman. Crapper is often falsely credited with inventing the Silent Valveless Water Waste Preventer, a type of toilet that could effectively flush when the tank was half full. Crapper owned a plumbing supply company and he marketed this device and may have bought the patent rights from the inventor, an Albert Giblin, but he did not invent it. Nor did he lend his name to the word crap. This was a case where an appropriately named man is associated with a field of endeavor, an aptronym, if you will, not an eponym. The OED2 traces the use of the word crap, meaning excrement, to at least to 1846, crapping ken for a water closet. Since Crapper was only nine years old in 1846, his name is obviously not the origin of the word. Incidentally, the word craps, for the dice game, derives from the word crab and is unrelated to the term for excrement. It is a French corruption of the English term which stood for a throw of two or three. Why the English called such a toss crabs is not known, but according to the OED2, it dates at least to 1768. The tale that it derives from the nickname of Bernard de Marigny, a New Orleans gambler (circa 1800) known as Johnny Crapaud, literally Johnny Toad, is fanciful, but not the correct etymology. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
