This Week - Brand Names: Kleenex

Many words in the vernacular English derive from commercial brandnames. This week we will survey a few.

Kleenex: Kleenex is a registered trademark of the Kimberly -Clark Corporation. Created in World War I as a filter material for gas masks, in 1926 the "Kleenex" was finally touted as a replacement for the handkerchief. Nowadays, Kleenex commonly refers to a generic facial tissue.

USSR

The grand daddy of all obsolete countries is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  The USSR came to existence following a series of foreign and civil wars, as well as revolution in 1922.  There is so much relevent information on the USSR in modern history, it might not be overstated to say that the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 is the most important event of the latter half of the twentieth century.

The political landscape of Modern Eastern Europe and Asia is still largely influenced by the remnants of the Soviet Union.  Numerous countries - from the very small, as in Armenia or Estonia, to the quite large, such as the Ukraine and Turkmenistan - came into existence following the breakup of the USSR.  In addition, the demise of the Soviet Union effectively ended the Cold War, in existence since the end of World War II.

Zaire

Zaire was the name of the present day Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Zaire was in existence from 1965, when the new leader Mobutu Sese Seko changed the existing name of "Belgian Congo" to Zaire.  In 1997, a military coup changed leadership, as well as the name of Zaire to its present form. 

N.B. The Democratic Republic of the Congo should not be confused with its neighbor, the Republic of Congo - a former French colony.

This Week - Obsolete Countries

Throughout history, territories were defined by many things - language, culture, geography, etc.  Countries, as we know them today, sometimes seem little more than solid blocks of color on a map roughly defining a political entity.  It seems that they come and go frequently these days.

This week you'll learn about - or perhaps remember - some recently obsolete countries.

 

Then - Upper Volta

Now - Burkina Faso

 

Located near the western coast of Africa, it went by the wayside in 1984.