Speaking of Hoovers, this is a bit of Navy trivia that will all but be forgotten when the last S-3 carrier based aircraft (remember President Bush's landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln? That was an S-3) retires. Known for the distinct high pitched whine from their engines, they are also sometimes referred to as Hoovers. There is a particular typed of flight ops known as "Triple H ops", for "Hummers (the E-2C early warning aircraft) Hoovers and Helos". =20
There is also a running joke in motorcycle circles along the lines of "Q: What's the difference between a Hoover and a (insert target motorcycle name here)? A: On a Hoover, the dirtbag is on the inside" etc etc.
"Hoover" is commonly used both as a generic name for any sort of vaccuum
> cleaner, and as a verb, e.g. "I'll just hoover up" or even "I'm going to
> do the hoovering." The Hoover name never became generic for any of the
> other types of appliances they made, such as irons and refrigerators.
> Had the latter been the most widely associated product of the company,
> maybe today people would talk about "Getting some milk from the Hoover."
> Sounds weird, but it could have happened.
> -Paul