How Corkscrew Shrimp joined the Pantheon of Proprietary Eponyms

If you really want to impress your peers at your next Zoom cocktail party, drop the phrase proprietary eponym - in a relevant context, of course – and note the expression on your friends’ faces. Should anyone ask, the term indicates popular brand names or service marks that are adopted for general use as generic nouns and sometimes verbs.

Consider the word Kleenex for example - a brand of facial tissues – now a word used to refer to facial tissues of any brand. Xerox is a brand of photocopy machine, but that word, too, has since been adopted to refer to any brand of photocopy machine and also used as a verb to describe the act of photocopying. There are many active trademarks, now used generically, that hark back decades ago. Some examples: Band Aid, Chapstick, Coke, Dumpster, Jello, Levi's, Polaroid, Post-It Note, Q-Tip, Scotch Tape and Sheetrock to name a handful.

So, what is a contemporary example? Well, seafood finally got its moment of proprietary eponymic fame with the term corkscrew shrimp. Author of the phrase, Mark Shinbane – president and CEO of global seafood supplier Harvest of the Sea - calls the moniker a blind squirrel finding a nut moment. Shinbane was brainstorming product names for the latest innovation with his sales team and “corkscrew” shrimp was merely the working title for the session.

The new product was Harvest of the Sea premium shrimp that is split in half and when cooked, creates an attractive, irregular corkscrew shape. Peeled and deveined, these shrimp save prep time and labor and instantly became a favorite entrée for fast, easy and delicious meals for a wide range of recipes. Harvest of the Sea also lightly dusts these shrimp so that they feature more protein and less coating than traditional breaded shrimp.

At the end of the brainstorming session, the team weighed in on names and that working title of “corkscrew shrimp” was the winner hands down. And, the name took off. Because of its popularity, the term “corkscrew shrimp” has joined the ranks of other proprietary names that are now generic and part of seafood’s general vernacular. It’s a delicious addition and the name’s embrace by the industry is a sign that it is definitely here to stay.