Zipper is now common and indispensable fastening item in clothing, luggage, camping and sports goods. It can fasten two edges of materials or flexible items by clasping metal or plastic teeth together. Not many people know that the word "zipper" was once a trademark (I did not know until recently).
The item was invented by an American inventor Whitcomb Judson in 1893, but the product name was not as is now, it was then called a "clasp locker".
The trademark "Zipper", and "Zipper Boots" were first registered by B. F. Goodrich Company in 1925. They used the fastening item in their rubber boots.
The word 'zip' was already in the English vocabulary since the late 19th century as onomatopoeic noun and verb, meaning the sound of a fast moving item or the act of moving very fast. It is said that an executive of B. F. Goodrich Company used to slide the fastener up and down saying "zip 'er up", and the trademark "Zipper" was made.
In 1930, the company sued to protect the trademark but lost, and the word Zipper became just a generic 'zipper'. Genericide victim...
In 1936, a new verb 'to zip' meaning to 'zipper up' something joined the dictionary. And of course because it is a new verb, it inflects in regular form (why it is a regular verb); zip, zipping, zipped, not zap.
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿