(calming orchestral music)
- Hey there, I'm Josh Clark
and this is Brain Stuff.
And this is the Brain
Stuff where I explain
to you why all Popsicles
aren't called Popsicles.
So you know how, when, after a really
long day at work, you're headed home,
covered in blood, and you think,
"I really need a frozen treat right now,"
so you just find a random
house and go inside
and locate the freezer
and rummage through it
and you pull out Big Dave's
high fructose corn syrup Torpedo,
a quiescently frozen confection.
And you think, "what is this?"
"Why did they call this that?"
"Why don't they just call it a Popsicle
"like everyone else does?"
Well here's why.
First, let's get the quiescent
wrapper weirdness out of the way.
As far as a confection goes,
that's a sweet food or a dessert.
I'm assuming you know what frozen means,
and quiescent means "at rest."
So a quiescently frozen treat,
is one that just passively
lays there as it freezes.
You know, like when you put Mountain Dew
in a ice cube tray and freeze it,
and feel pretty clever.
That's a quiescently frozen
treat you've just made.
And you might think, "Why would anyone
"have anything to say about that?"
Well, it actually means something
in the world of frozen treats,
because not all of them
are frozen quiescently.
Take ice cream for example.
Ice cream actually is
whipped as it freezes,
by a huge blade called a dasher.
And the dasher introduces air into the
ice cream mix, turning it into
what's known as a colloidal foam.
And the fact that ice cream is a
colloidal foam, is what gives it it's
nice, creamy, whipped, fluffy but
slightly chewy texture
that only ice cream has.
So, now we know.
Quiescently frozen treat part
of the wrapper, explained away.
But let's get on to the
heart of the matter,
the meat of this video:
'Why don't they just call it a Popsicle?'
Well, to explain that, we have to take
a trip to Intellectual Property Land.
Back in 1905, little 11
year old San Franciscan
Frank Epperson found that he liked to
freeze his favorite drinks
and enjoy them as frozen treats.
20 years later, he
patented and trademarked
his invention, named it
Popsicles, ostensibly
soda pop and icicles, although there are
competing origin stories.
And by 1925, he sold the
rights to his whole thing.
Popsicles' fame grew
and grew, and in 1989,
the Good Humor company bought the
rights to Popsicles, and Good Humor is
a division of Unilever Supply Chain inc.
And Unilever Supply Chain
inc. don't mess around.
In the meantime, Popsicles
had grown so popular
that they became what's known as
a proprietary eponym,
and that just means that
it's a product that is so popular,
that people use it generically to
describe any other similar product.
Now, you would think that brands
are like "wow, that's huge honor."
But, the problem is, companies feel
that it dilutes their brands.
It makes it just like everything else.
So they frequently try to
fight against this thing.
Other notable proprietary eponyms include:
Kleenex, which you should
generically call facial tissues.
Band-aids, which are known as
adhesive bandages generically.
Zerox, photocopies.
Styrofoam, extruded polystyrene foam.
And of course, don't forget Frisbees.
Novelty throwing discs.
Now when you ask your friend's mom
for a Popsicle, a Unilever lawyer is
probably not going to appear and hand you
a cease and desist order.
Instead, Unilever has come up with
public-facing marketing material
to teach us all how to use
the term Popsicle correctly.
So, as Unilever points out, Popsicle
is a proper noun, which means that it's
always to be capitalized, never to use
the possessive form, and never
to be pluralized, either.
So, the best way to say something like
"I wish I had three Popsicles right now,"
Is to actually say "I wish I had three,
"Popsicle, circle R,
brand ice pops right now."
Got it?
So now you know, the next time you want
a Popsicle, how to order it, like a good
upstanding citizen, and to not infringe
on any intellectual property laws.
What's your favorite frozen treat?
And, we include frozen
burritos in that category.
Let us know in the comment section below.
And, while you're at it,
go ahead and subscribe.
Make your life fulfilled.
And, for even more awesomeness,
head on over to the mothership website,
howstuffworks.com.
