"HOOVERING"

[portapower]

My family always said "hoovering" instead of vacuuming, as in "I'm going to hoover the carpet" and "the carpet needs to be hoovered". We never said "vacuum".
All my friends used the term "vacuuming"-- I felt so alone!
My family was also strictly a Hoover family. My mother, grandmother, aunts, and cousins all had Hoovers and no other brand.
Does anyone else or their family use the term "hoovering"?

 

[hismastersvoice]

In the UK I believe "Hoovering" is the standard term for vacuuming.

 

[firebirdman55]

I have heard the term used in the UK as well. Around here it was always vacuuming...or as my mother always said, "I need to run the sweeper."

 

[gottahaveahoove]

We only had 2 relatives who said "sweeper".

Being around my aunt who came from Ireland, We heard "Hoovering" all our lives. We either "Hoover" or "run the Hoover".because every family member always had a real "HOOVER". Now, one has a Bissel, one a Dyson "Ball", and one just got a Shark Rotator. I saw the box on the curb on trash night. She already went through 2 HOOVERS.... could have had them serviced. The ones from Ireland loved the headlight so you could "HOOVER in the dark".

"Happy HOOVERING"

 

[vintagevaclover]

My grandparents (British descent) always say "Hoover, Hoovering, etc." Whenever there's some crumbs on the carpet, it's always "Go get the Hoover", which is one of several Convertibles, or a Dial-A-Matic.

 

[anthony]

living in

the north of england [newcastle]my family always said HOOVER UP .I now live in leeds still the north of england but here people tend to say VAC UP and any kind of vacuuam cleaner is usually refered to as a VAC

 

[kirbysthebest]

We were/are a Kirby house

My Mom always "ran the sweeper".

 

[gsheen]

I remember when my Cousins from Michigan came out to Visit us in South Africa with my uncle they used the term sweeping for vacuuming. I found this amusing as a young lad. They also referred to the vacuum as a sweeper.

 

[midcenturyfan]

Where I live, Hoover and Hoovering are generic terms, much to my annoyance.

 

[dysonman1]

My mother always "Ran the Sweeper". It was a Rainbow, so I don't think she would "rainbow" the rugs. It was always "I need to sweep the carpets, get out the sweeper for me and fill it up". I heard that every Saturday for many years growing up. I didn't know anyone who had an upright vacuum, and I didn't know anyone who had a Hoover. Virtually everyone had a door to door canister (I was born in 1962). Only one person I knew had a Kenmore. Compacts, Rainbows, Filter Queens, and Electrolux were all I grew up with, seems everyone in our small town had one of those four.

 

[tolivac]

For me while growing up--my Mom or Dad called their Kirby "The electric sweeper"The fridge was the "electric icebox"and the new at the time food disposer-Mom called it "The electric Pig"!

 

[turbo500]

My mum always called it the "vac", but most people I know refer to it as a "Hoover". My partner always calls it the Hoover.

 

[whirlpolf]

I like "hoovering" ;-)

Nobody here speaks of "hoovering", all say "staubsaugen" (the generic verb).
Yet I do like the word "to hoover" when thinking in English.
The sound is so real to me: HOOOOO (like that low humming of the fans or the gentle roar of the beater bars) and that vvvv sound (like the air rushing in under the ground plate).
Electrolux tried to introduce "luxen" (to lux) in the 1970s, but it has always sounded pretty posh and "made-up / not real" (like to "luxuriate" your carpets, to luxurize them). Blah...

Making up verbs from brand names is uncommon in German, nouns however are all around (Tempo, a paper hankerchief, Zewa the kitchen towel, Tesa like Scotch tape, Moulinette, Calor, Nivea, Hipp, Haribos, Unimog, Pritt, Uhu, Maggi, Pampers, Spüli, whatever brand)

The only brand having EVER made it into forming a verb is Kärcher, as far as I know (to kärcher something = to pressure clean it) -> Das Auto muss gekärchert werden (this car must be karchered / pressure washed).
Sounds odd to me but it is so everyday and all around that I have stopped caring at some point. Everyone says it.

 

[citroenbx]

yes we all use the term hoovering

 

[portapower]

Looks like it was a term mostly from the British Isles. Don't know how my family got into using this phrase--- they're not from over there.
Anyway, I'll be HOOVERING later today.

 

[thebassetthound]

I'd suggest it's geographical and which brand took hold in the area.
My very British Nan would always talk about doing the "hoovering".
One of my Aunts from New Zealand, would often refer to doing the "Luxing" (as in Electrolux).
And the rest of my relatives from various parts of Australia use either vacuuming or hoovering interchangeably - depending on how old school they are.

I wonder why Royaling, Dysoning Nilfisking, etc never took off...?

 

[hygiene903]

We run the sweeper in my area too! Here's a couple pics of me running the sweeper during a mini-meet at my house about 5 years ago, one being my Hoover 28 and the other my Kirby D-50.
Jeff

 

[briankirbyclass]

We had a neighbor lady once when i was a kid who couldnt say any words with the letter S in them , and would always put a T in its place.

Very poor English, i know, but i think she had a speach inpediment, and was mentally off a little. Poor thing.

Anyway,she always called her vacuum a "sweeper", or in her case, a TWEEPER!

She knew i had a thing for vacuums as a kid, and would call, or come over and ask if i wanted to Run her TWEEPER. (It was a beat up old Hoover Convertible, the green hood, Brady Bunch model.)

I did go over a few times to vacuum for her, but she had a house full of cats, and must have vacuumed up cat litter AND all that goes with it, because the exhaust from her TWEEPER , STUNK like CAT POOP!

 

[countryguy]

Growing up and to this day I have only ever heard any one refer to it as a vacuum and the action of 'I am going to do the vacuuming' or 'I vacuumed today'. My grandmother, being born in the Ukraine had a hard time to pronounce the letter 'v' which sounded like a 'w' when speaking English so it sounded like she was saying 'wacuum'.

Gary