>When I worked for another company, I worked with an English guy, and he once asked me to borrow a biro. I had no idea what he was talking about. Of course, we do the same thing here. 'Saran wrap' means any plastic food wrap. 'Kleenex' means any facial tissue. 'Scotch tape' is any cellophane tape. 'Hoover' is sometimes the same here, but depends probably on what you were raised with. In our family, we 'Electro-luxed' the floor.

I've never heard "hoover" as a verb from an American, though.

Tamar