I'm trying to explain to my friend why saying Lego with an 's' at the end is incorrect and why one should, instead, say "LEGO Bricks," LEGO Sets," etc, or at the very least "Lego" even though "LEGO" is an adjective (which he does not believe).

But Wikipedia and Google aren't helping me find the official explanation. I tried finding it on Lego.com but couldn't.

Help please!

-CF

PS, don't go trying to type out LEGO with an actual 's' following. The filter just corrects it to "LEGO Bricks" for you.

Edit: Found an article, thanks to Andrew Becraft.

The legendary maker of little bricks used to construct toys, monsters, and robots requests you refer to their brand name without the ###### S' please.

 

Businesses must protect their trademarks, and spend a lot of money to build brand awareness. Part of that strategy leads businesses with an online presence to purchase URLs containing different spellings. The Lego toy company has done so by purchasing *Lego with an 's'*.com. (filter)

 

Many people tend to call Lego toys *Lego with an 's'*. Evidently, someone in the corporate offices at Lego has taken the term *Lego with an 's'* as a deeply personal, slandering insult. Visiting *Lego with an 's'*.com brings up a redirect page along with an admonishment to the visitor:

The word LEGO is a brand name, and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our products as "LEGO bricks or toys" and not "*Lego with an 's'*." By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud, and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!

Wow. Making the argument that calling the bricks *Lego with an 's'* instead of Lego bricks' violates the brand comes across as unusually pedantic. Probably a legal necessity, but still not a very consumer-friendly approach.

(The article also gave me a link to info on what happened with the Maori way back when. I didn't realize the full extent of what happened. Wow.)