It would work in Germany as well. Though we have more generic names for this, the people interested in mechanical keyboards do understand and use Cherry Switches.

> Similarly for "Kleenex", "Q-tip", "Xerox", all of which are known by they generic names in Denmark and, AFAIK, the rest of Europe

Germany: Kleenex are Tempos (a different brand), Q-tips are Q-tips, Xerox are the generic Kopierer, no one would use that brand name here.

Also to be fair I'm from the midwest US and never heard anyone use the term Xerox in the last decade

>Q-tips are Q-tips

Where? I've never heard Q-tips in Germany except from Americans.

One example: https://pompfenshop.de/pompfen-3/pompfen-2/ - looks like a Wattestäbchen but is called Q-tip.

Common in the North. Obviously pronounced Kuhtips.

Does anyone use "Cherry switches" as a generic term?

I have heard it among guys who work on pinball and arcade machines. It might be less common now, but next time you encounter an appliance repair tech (like microwave ovens) ask him/her.

They use "Cherry steam" as a way to describe the stem, but only really generic, $20 amazon keyboards ever use the word Cherry unless they actually have Cherry switches. A lot of newer, more boutique boards don't use Cherry, there are a lot of new and interesting Cherry stem switches not made by them.

Pretty much no way a $20 keyboard can have Cherry switches. Even the highest volume (MX Black) are ~30 cents at quantity, so a full set of keys for a keyboard already comes in at ~30 EUR.

The article claims so, though the generic usage must have died out long ago:

> the company quickly became best known for its electronic switches, particularly its microswitches, which (despite not being first to market) became commonly known as “cherry switches.”

That says their microswitches became known as "cherry switches". That is not the same thing as a generic; all microswitches being known as cherry switches.

Some people do call very good (but not good enough) chinese clones cherry switches too. Or mostly anything that is mechanically identical to a cherry (though in 9 out of 10 times, quality will be poor if not from cherry themselves)

On the other hand in Poland we have some items named after a brand, like the word for sneakers being "adidasy" or for bicycle being "rower". But "ksero" might be the only one after an American brand.

These are called eponyms, we also have "adidasi" in Romania to reference any kind of sports shoes. :)

Most languages have eponyms, an English example would be "hoover" which is sometimes used instead of "vacuum cleaner", especially in USA.

Off Topic.

If one is interested in Romanian TV shows...

"Comrade Detective" was a pretty good show.

There's a dubbed version available on Amazon IIRC.

The UK is the champion at this.

Hoover

Biro

Transit van

Many, many more in the UK:

Cashpoint is probably the winner - I've never heard anyone use anything else. I don't even remember whose trade mark it once was.

Sellotape

Airfix for all model kits

JCB for all diggers

Tarmac

Let's not forget about "Sandwich" :-)

Xerography is the name of the technique that made Xerox's career, so I'm not sure about the last one

A weber is a popular term for a grill in Australia.

Though it is a golden egg for any company to get their brand name to be associated as the name of the thing. Which is pretty American.

> Though it is a golden egg for any company to get their brand name to be associated as the name of the thing.

It can backfire, though. When your brand name becomes a generic term for a type of product, it can invalidate your trademark. I did not even know Thermos was an actual company until I was ~20 years old.

“Micro switch” is a trademark, originally of the Burgess Battery Company, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, where it was invented. (Spun off and owned by Honeywell since 1950.)