Where's he gone?

Often its the original or the most famous brand name that becomes the name of an object.
Life is sometimes amusing
Indeed so - and understandable, given that when the first example of a type of product shows itself, the 'proper name' and brand name are unambiguously synonymous - until other similar products start to appear. I'm sure there are countless examples but, in addition to the Hoover and Megger which you mention, a couple of others which come immediately to mind are Biro and Henley (block).

Kind Regards, John
 
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As in the case of "Plastics". To be rightly called plastic any substance needs to have the property of plasticity.
Indeed - but, when used 'correctly' (technically), the words 'plastic' and 'elastic' (used as adjectives) are pretty meaningless. Other than for those materials which exhibit little plasticity or elasticity (which we call 'brittle'), virtually all materials are both 'elastic' and 'plastic', depending upon the degree of stress to which they are subjected - elastic up to their 'elastic limit' and then plastic beyond that leveel of stress.

The main problem arise when we use these words (particularly 'plastic') as nouns. Other than for those deliberately designed to be 'springy', nearly all metals are actually very 'plastic' over most of the range of stresses - ironically probably more so than most of the polymers we have come to describe as 'plastics'! Conversely, some of the polymers we call 'plastics' are either brittle or fairly elastic!
There are some normal words of description we use everyday. ... some words have a more technical meaning. ... Some words have a more legal meaning. ... Often the three meanings do not tally or their meanings overlap in part.
Indeed so, which I why I believe that one has to tailor one's use of the terms to be appropriate to the intended 'audience'
when I choose to use a word then that word means what I intend it to mean, no more, no less!
Same here - but, as above, I usually try to use a word which I think will be understood to have the meaning "I intend" by the person I am speaking/writing to. That means that I may use different words (to convey 'my intended meaning') to different people. For example, I might well use the word "wire" when talking to a member of 'the general public" to refer to what I would call a 'conductor' when speaking to an electrician.

Kind Regards, John
 

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