Apparently Popsicle is a Brand Name, Not What Ice Pops Are Actually Called

It happens often enough in our corporate times, when a brand becomes so ubiquitous that its trademark is adopted as a product’s common name. We blow our noses on Kleenexes instead of facial tissues. We Xerox documents instead of photo-copying them. According to Wikipedia, some of these genericized trademarks have actually been around long enough that most people wouldn’t even recognize them as such (aspirin? elevator?!). Still, we’re not sure any amount of reddit-level self-awareness could have prepared us for this.

Popsicle. Popsicle is a brand name. The actual things are called ice pops.

First designed by accident in 1905, the name Popsicle is a portmanteau of soda pop and icicle — a nod to its origins as a bottle of soda left to freeze on a porch overnight by an 11-year-old Frank Epperson. Somewhere along the line, the pop was replaced with syrups and fruit juices and the treat’s alternate titles (ice pops, paletas, ice lollies), left to melt away into the annals of freezer section time.

Admittedly, maybe it doesn’t matter quite as much as we’re making it seem. The name Cronut is trademarked, which is why we have so many awfully named copycats like doissants or kravenuts, but whatever. They’re all motherfucking Cronuts. And this summer, whenever I’m in need of icy, fruit-flavored, mildly phallic refreshment, I will have myself popsicle dagnabit, regardless of whether it’s actually made by the Popsicle brand.

Eh, on second thought, maybe I’ll grab a Coke.

Picthx DDW