“LISTSERV” is the brand name of one kind of electronic mail-handling software for distributing messages to a list of subscribers. Other common brand names are “Majordomo” and “Listproc.” You can subscribe to the poodle-fluffing list, but not the LISTSERV. People at my university, where only Mailman was used, often (and erroneously) referred to themselves as managers of “listservs.” English teachers are frequently tripped up when typing “listserv” as part of a computer command; they naturally want to append an E on the end of the word. According to L-Soft, the manufacturer of LISTSERV, the name of its software should be set in all capital letters. See the LISTSERV Web site for details.
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This week on the podcast we talk about more technology terms worth knowing.
This is an example of genericized trademark like Kleenex or Velcro. Another technology related one is "Photoshop".
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