The Plural Of iPad Is 'iPad Devices' Says Apple (LEGO, Too!)

Yesterday I Photoshopped a picture of a stand that I built for my two iPads out of LEGOs. Do you know what's wrong with the previous sentence (except for the fact that I did no such thing yesterday)? I used all three of those brand names incorrectly, according to the companies that make them.

You might already know about using Photoshop or LEGOs incorrectly, but iPads? That's a new one to me. Yesterday, Apple's own Philip Schiller took to Twitter to settle a dispute that can cause a bit of confusion. Namely, what is the plural of iPad Pro? Is it iPads Pro? iPad Pros? As it turns out, the correct way is "iPad Pro devices."

Mr. Schiller pointed out that you should never pluralize any Apple product. This goes for the iPad, iPhone, and even a Mac. That's right, if you have more than one Mac, you should say "I have 3 Macintosh" or "I have 3 Macintosh computers." Yes folks, Macintosh, much like deer or fish, is plural. Of course, no one has actually said the word Macintosh since the 90s, so it's a moot point.

Apple isn't the only company to get weird about how their names are used. Plenty of other companies have gotten huffy at the thought of their names being used improperly. Many dislike their names being used to describe any similar product, such as Kleenex for a facial tissue, and Band-Aid for an adhesive bandage. But here are a few fun ones that you might not know.

Photoshop is a verb that gets used very frequently. Just the millions of people on the PhotoshopBattles subreddit. You may not know it, but Adobe doesn't take kindly to that usage of their name. In fact, they have an entire page on their website dedicated to their trademark guidelines. They don't want you to use it as a verb, a noun, or in the possessive form. Remember, instead of saying "The image was Photoshopped" you should say "The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software."

Since I was a child, I loved playing with my LEGOs. I've always said it that way, and I pretty much still do. However, LEGO doesn't appreciate this. For years, if you tried to go to LEGOs.com you would receive a special message from the company letting you know that this is an improper use of their brand name. They remind us that the correct plural form is LEGO bricks, or LEGO toys.

Google is another interesting case, as Merriam-Webster has added an entry for the word "google" in their dictionary. Their entry still specifically states that it means "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web." The company actually made a blog post back in 2006 to address the concerns about their brand name being used improperly. Essentially, they want to make sure that you're very clear that when you Google someone, you're actually using their services.