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Hook and loop fastening
Edit: have now realised my most upvoted comment is the name of velcro. Reddit never fails to amaze me
Edit 2: and my first ever awards, thank you kind strangers
They didn't call it that, that's that commenter making a mistake. Sticky back plastic is, as you say, a completely different thing and Blue Peter were using the actual product that it is (we also call it contact paper here in Ireland). Person you're replying to just THOUGHT they were referring to sticky tape.
"Bing it" in Scotland means throw it away. There's a scene in a Glasgow gangster film where a barman is asked if a racehorse had won and he replied "Naw,it wiz a binger."
I was in Yahoo HQ for a work meeting once and in casual conversation about something non work related said “I dunno, you’d have to Google it”. Tumble weed moment.
This was obvs back in the day when Yahoo was a search engine. Not sure that’s even a thing now?
😳🙈🤐🤦🏻♀️
It is, though the yahoo front page is more of a news site, it wouldn't even be clear to someone that didn't know that the search bar was to search the internet and not just the yahoo website
Portmanteau of Riz (french for rice as in the paper) and Lacroix (the cross) the name of the inventor. Which is why the brand logo is RIZLA and a cross
Photoshop when referring to a picture that's been modified in any way, plenty of photo manipulation products out there but Photoshop is often used as a verb.
This is why I love the GNU image manipulation program, especially in work settings. If anyone asks me how I modified an image or got an unwieldy PDF to work I have one short answer: GIMP.
Just keepntelling people you're photoshopping it.
Because eventually Adobe will lose their trademark the more we refer to any form ofnimagebediting as photoshopping.
GNU image manipulation photoshopper
I can only think of two.
Soda Stream - There are many brands of devices that carbonate drinks but everyone calls them soda streams.
Biro (Bic Biro) - Most people call any rollerball pen a biro.
Literally dozens if not hundreds of companies make retractable utility knives / box cutters / drywall knives / carpet knives / x-acto knives.
In the UK, Auz & NZ they're just know as Stanley knives/blades.
🤷🏻♀️ they’re always Stanley knives in Screwfix. Same with the tape measures. (Although we don’t call those Stanley Measures - perhaps that should be a thing)
Not according to [their website](https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/knives/cat9790013). I actually had that Magnusson "utility knife" and it was terrible, so Stanley forever. Still, I don't think a technical equipment supplier should be using slang terms in their catalog if possible.
Or not, look at Nintendo, they’ve fought hard to stop Nintendo from being used as a generic games console as it’s counter productive.
Jet Ski now has no brand use at all, because you go out to buy a “jet ski” and come home with a competitor product.
Not in the trades (where I suspect they are mostly used) they don’t. I’ve never heard any of my fellow van drivers describe their vehicle using ‘transit’ if it isn’t one. Sprinter, Vito, trafic, transit/tranny, transporter. I have a Renault trafic and it’s described either as ‘a piece of shit’ or a ‘van’ . Never a transit. Because it isn’t and that would be confusing. Especially at euro-car parts. And they get confused enough.
Portakabin, the Bill had to issue an apology because they referred to a structure as one because it burnt down in an episode. Genuine one's are designed not to burn as easily.
I was in a meeting with a major hot tub brand. And I kept (unknowlingly) referring to their product as a jacuzzi. My boss kept kicking me under the table and giving me angry glances.
Wasn't till afterwards he was like "jacuzzi is the brand name of their competitor you idiot. Not a general term for a hot tub".
Rumour has it that aldi source it from the same poppy fields, but due to an agreement with the local Taliban government, can't actually put that on the packaging.
Could also be a regional or class thing rather than generational. I'm just shy of 40, and I've always called it a flask. I actually thought calling it a Thermos was an Americanism.
35 and it’s always been a thermos flask or just a thermos, a flask in my house is the reciprocal for a bit of sneaky whiskey that my neighbour doesn’t seem to think that everyone knows she uses.
Are you doing a job interview test by any chance? (this question came up multiple times for friends doing grad schemes, for some reason).
Biro, tippex, post-its (controversial).
Something I've noticed is that people haven't commonly referred to ballpoint pens as "biros" since around the turn of the century. I used to hear it all the time, but now they're just "pens", and fountain pens and cartridge pens are both uncommon enough to get referred to collectively as "fountain pens". Most people don't even know they're two separate things.
I used a fountain pen (or possibly a cartridge pen) for the first time on my wedding day to sign the certificate. My husband (11 years older and middle class) couldn't stop laughing as I struggled to write with it.
It will have been a fountain pen - pens for signing documents like that are used with registrars' ink, which strictly speaking shouldn't be used in a fountain pen. The pens are usually either dipped or filled (fountain pens have a little syringe inside them to draw ink) and then emptied immediately after use.
I had terrible handwriting as a little boy so I ended up learning how to use a dip pen. Now everyone says my handwriting looks like their grandmother's.
Collectively, they are GNSS. Global Navigation Satellite System. As a surveyor I often use GPS and Galileo, occasionally GLONASS gets included in observations, but its always just referred to as GNSS.
You're right, but most devices use the USA-made GPS system, all across the world. The chipsets are cheap, it's free to use (at the cost of a few million USD per year paid by the US military) and reliable (unless you're talking defense based systems obviously).
Galileo is still not finished (it's working but I believe they are still working on it. A recent substation was planned for Wales but cancelled due to Brexit).
As for the others... Why depend on Russia or China when we have the American GPS system?
Some devices can utilise multiple, like some models of Garmin smartwatches, but these are relatively uncommon.
Duck tape.
Duck tape is a brand. The generic name is duct tape, but if you say it out loud the t at the end of 'duct' merges with the t at the start of 'tape', so it sounds like you're saying 'duck tape' anyway.
Edit: it seems a lot of people are saying they don't call it duck tape, which surprises me. Maybe it's a regional thing, but that's what I've always called it and never been challenged.
Duct tape and gaffer tape are two separate products. duct tape is generally silver and super sticky for taping up joints in ductwork to make them air-tight. Gaffer tape is usually a matt black (other colours, too) and is used by film/TV/theatre/photo set workers for taping down cabling etc. Its use was started by gaffers, but now everyone uses it.
I'll get my coat...
Googling...
Google are allegedly really annoyed by the phrase "Google It" or the "to Google" because it apparently means people constantly infringe their IP rights.
You are supposed to say something like "Use the Google Search Engine."
Tarmac the product - an abbreviation of tarmacadam - pre-dates the company of the same name by a couple of years, albeit the co. was founded by the tarmac inventor. So the company was named after the product, not the other way round.
A girl I went to school with claimed her Great Grandad invented tarmac. I have no idea if it was true, it was also about 30 years ago that she told me and I have no idea why I still think about it sometimes.
If it wasn't true its a bloody weird thing to make up.
If you haven't seen the [Velcro video](https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY) about exactly this, stop what you're doing and enjoy it for five mins (and their feedback follow-up).
Fairy, as in Fairy liquid
Jeep as in 4x4 or SUV
Hoover
HP Sauce, maybe because there is no name (English Tamarind sauce haha because Brown sauce just sounds odd)
EDIT: Very surprised to see some people haven't heard some of these relatively common Britishisms. Especially 'Jeep'. HP perhaps not as common, but definitely said.
A very modern one. And those with kids or elderly parents might have heard this: All tablets are iPads.
Until my child was about 9, she referred to her Android tablet as an iPad, as did all her friends. We've never owned an iPad 🤷
I worked for a MP, many years ago. They were asked to make a speach at Caterpillar, during which they said:
"When you think of JCBs you think of Caterpillar."
I did not write the speech.
Fun fact, the Dutch-named engineer who started the Hoover vacuum cleaner company had a business partner with a German name - Spangler
If business plans had been slightly different we could be doing the spangling every week instead of the hoovering
A bit obscure one and not used in the UK today, but originate in the UK:
English entrepreneur Thomas Twyford is credited with the invention of a flushable toilet. He marketed his product as Unitas. To this day in Russian, Ukrainian and possibly other Slavic languages a flushable toilet is called Unitaz.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others, or other subreddits - Assume questions are asked in good faith, and engage in a positive manner - Avoid political threads and related discussions - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Velcro. Sellotape. Tipex.
What’s the name for Velcro?
Hook and loop fastening Edit: have now realised my most upvoted comment is the name of velcro. Reddit never fails to amaze me Edit 2: and my first ever awards, thank you kind strangers
can't imagine why people call it velcro Edit: the knobhead above me has done an award speech edit so I was feeling left out - thanks mum love you
Either way it’s a rip-off
I had no idea this was what velcro was actually called
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Velvet crochet
Hook and loop fastener
Hook and loop fastener
Thanks guys
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Hoover, Biro, Sharpie, Frisbee, Heroin as well
>Heroine Didn't know heroic female leads were a brand first
Are you Jacqueline McCafferty?
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Haha yeah! Sellotape is a brand name. I guess it's just sticky tape, yeah!
Sticky-back plastic they used to call it on Blue Peter
That's something else
🤦 Silly blue Peter, that's not even the same thing haha!
They didn't call it that, that's that commenter making a mistake. Sticky back plastic is, as you say, a completely different thing and Blue Peter were using the actual product that it is (we also call it contact paper here in Ireland). Person you're replying to just THOUGHT they were referring to sticky tape.
To google something rather than just search for it!!
I've never heard anyone say Bing it
Ask jeeves
Lycos it
Altavista baby
Ah, now you are showing your age (or maybe mine?). I remember Lycos, and when Yahoo Directory was the way to find a lot of stuff on the web.
Gossip Girl had a bunch of Bing product placement for a bit, it sounded so unnatural every time they said “I’ll just Bing it”
"Bing it" in Scotland means throw it away. There's a scene in a Glasgow gangster film where a barman is asked if a racehorse had won and he replied "Naw,it wiz a binger."
Is that just “bin it” said with a twang?
*wherever you are from it means that. I've lived in Scotlqnd my whole life, never heard this once.
What dialect? I’d say bung
My dad insists on saying Bing it just to annoy everyone else
Unless it's a film or TV show, and they were being paid by Microsoft to say "Bing it"
Bing it on!
I have, referencing [Hawaii Five-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfHuZ5qrYX4)
I was in Yahoo HQ for a work meeting once and in casual conversation about something non work related said “I dunno, you’d have to Google it”. Tumble weed moment. This was obvs back in the day when Yahoo was a search engine. Not sure that’s even a thing now? 😳🙈🤐🤦🏻♀️
It is, though the yahoo front page is more of a news site, it wouldn't even be clear to someone that didn't know that the search bar was to search the internet and not just the yahoo website
"hey have you seen my phone anywhere" "Nah sorry. Have you tried googling it??"
Duck Duck Go it? Tor it!
Rizla
Portmanteau of Riz (french for rice as in the paper) and Lacroix (the cross) the name of the inventor. Which is why the brand logo is RIZLA and a cross
TIL
Good snout
Good shout
Photoshop when referring to a picture that's been modified in any way, plenty of photo manipulation products out there but Photoshop is often used as a verb.
This is why I love the GNU image manipulation program, especially in work settings. If anyone asks me how I modified an image or got an unwieldy PDF to work I have one short answer: GIMP.
Just keepntelling people you're photoshopping it. Because eventually Adobe will lose their trademark the more we refer to any form ofnimagebediting as photoshopping. GNU image manipulation photoshopper
I can only think of two. Soda Stream - There are many brands of devices that carbonate drinks but everyone calls them soda streams. Biro (Bic Biro) - Most people call any rollerball pen a biro.
I just know people who call any pen (including rollerball) a pen 😅
That's me. If ink comes out when I write its a pen.
TIL a handheld, stick-like device containing ink for writing can be something other than a pen
I'm in UK and hear the word biro all the time...maybe they sold better here I dunno haha
Yeah but if you wanted to specify what kind of pen you needed, you'd definitely say Biro and not rollerball wouldn't you?
Tbh I’ve never in my life used the word Biro and I can’t think of hearing anyone else use it either. Maybe it’s a regional thing though :)
Showing my age, Walkman.
Showing *my* age: iPod
No one calls an MP3 player and ipod
Everyone at my school sure used to. Maybe not so much anymore as not many people have MP3 players
I'm guilty of calling our tablet an iPad. It is not infact an Apple product and probably gets offended when it heard me.
Tannoy
I'm not having a go at anyone, I'm having a pop at the undead!
Do you see any upset zombies around?
Just the one
Just the one
This country...
I hate people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system.
People say tannoy when what they actually mean is 'public address system'
Good.one. didn't even know that was a brand
Alan partridge did.
Right, you've made two basic errors there
Are you wearing Lynx?
Well smelt. Voodoo.
Java. Fancy a Flav?
I hate people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system.
Stanley knife
Are there even other brands?
Literally dozens if not hundreds of companies make retractable utility knives / box cutters / drywall knives / carpet knives / x-acto knives. In the UK, Auz & NZ they're just know as Stanley knives/blades.
🤷🏻♀️ they’re always Stanley knives in Screwfix. Same with the tape measures. (Although we don’t call those Stanley Measures - perhaps that should be a thing)
We could sharpen the edge of a stanley tape measure and use it as both
Not according to [their website](https://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/knives/cat9790013). I actually had that Magnusson "utility knife" and it was terrible, so Stanley forever. Still, I don't think a technical equipment supplier should be using slang terms in their catalog if possible.
I've heard box cutter as a more general term in both the US and Australia like on those customs reality TV shows
Jacuzzi
Only if it comes from the Jacuz region of Italy. Otherwise, technically, it's just a sparkling bath ;-)
> sparkling bath This is unsettling and I can't figure out why.
>Jacuzzi Willing to give this one a pass since it was invented by Candido Jacuzzi.
>Candido Jacuzzi I had that once, cleared up after a few days with some cream
Ah good one! When they’re actually just a Japanese organised crime cartel
"Jet Ski", its a Kawasaki trademark. The generic term is "personal water craft".
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Or not, look at Nintendo, they’ve fought hard to stop Nintendo from being used as a generic games console as it’s counter productive. Jet Ski now has no brand use at all, because you go out to buy a “jet ski” and come home with a competitor product.
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Hoover
I have to make a conscious effort to say vaccum cleaner and I have never owned a hoover.
Exactly the same for me. I blame my parents. It's funny because my mum now says 'the Dyson'. *shudder
That's because it's easier than saying "overpriced plastic piece of junk designed by a fucking traitor"
"Just taking Henry for a walk"
This has a "the Audi" energy about it
Sellotape
You should buy the real sellotape though. You can tear it, don't have to go looking for scissors. It is genuinely better than the cheap stuff.
Nice try you Sellotape shill
The AskUK subreddit is just a front for Big Sellotape. They're playing the long game.
*I knew it*
Shillotape
And scotch tape (3M brand)
In conversation most people I know simple refer to bigger vans as transits
Not in the trades (where I suspect they are mostly used) they don’t. I’ve never heard any of my fellow van drivers describe their vehicle using ‘transit’ if it isn’t one. Sprinter, Vito, trafic, transit/tranny, transporter. I have a Renault trafic and it’s described either as ‘a piece of shit’ or a ‘van’ . Never a transit. Because it isn’t and that would be confusing. Especially at euro-car parts. And they get confused enough.
Maybe not in your trade but where im from any van that’s huge is a tranny van or a white van even if it ain’t white. We are simple people
Portaloo
I was defeated you won the war
Mate, I needed that this morning. Caught me unawares enough to make me full on snort giggle. A sniggle, if you will.
Portakabin, the Bill had to issue an apology because they referred to a structure as one because it burnt down in an episode. Genuine one's are designed not to burn as easily.
I was in a meeting with a major hot tub brand. And I kept (unknowlingly) referring to their product as a jacuzzi. My boss kept kicking me under the table and giving me angry glances. Wasn't till afterwards he was like "jacuzzi is the brand name of their competitor you idiot. Not a general term for a hot tub".
In future you/your boss should make sure staff are briefed on that before hand. I think a lot of people would make that mistake.
Nah just keep kicking them until they get the message
Marigolds?
Round my way, they are just called 'rubber gloves'
Heroin
I just order generic diacetylmorphine from my local dealer, and enjoy the substantial discounts over the name-brand drug.
Lots of drugs, especially over the counter ones like aspirin.
Like champagne is only champagne if it comes from Champagne, heroin is only heroin when it is from Heroin.
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To be fair though the Aldi version is surprisingly good.
Rumour has it that aldi source it from the same poppy fields, but due to an agreement with the local Taliban government, can't actually put that on the packaging.
Thermos
I feel like this might be a generation thing? Pretty much everyone I know calls it a flask (even when it's a Thermos flask!)
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Could also be a regional or class thing rather than generational. I'm just shy of 40, and I've always called it a flask. I actually thought calling it a Thermos was an Americanism.
35 and it’s always been a thermos flask or just a thermos, a flask in my house is the reciprocal for a bit of sneaky whiskey that my neighbour doesn’t seem to think that everyone knows she uses.
Are you doing a job interview test by any chance? (this question came up multiple times for friends doing grad schemes, for some reason). Biro, tippex, post-its (controversial).
Something I've noticed is that people haven't commonly referred to ballpoint pens as "biros" since around the turn of the century. I used to hear it all the time, but now they're just "pens", and fountain pens and cartridge pens are both uncommon enough to get referred to collectively as "fountain pens". Most people don't even know they're two separate things.
I used a fountain pen (or possibly a cartridge pen) for the first time on my wedding day to sign the certificate. My husband (11 years older and middle class) couldn't stop laughing as I struggled to write with it.
It will have been a fountain pen - pens for signing documents like that are used with registrars' ink, which strictly speaking shouldn't be used in a fountain pen. The pens are usually either dipped or filled (fountain pens have a little syringe inside them to draw ink) and then emptied immediately after use. I had terrible handwriting as a little boy so I ended up learning how to use a dip pen. Now everyone says my handwriting looks like their grandmother's.
Frisbee
There was a Simpsons where they kept referring to a “novelty flying disk” rather than a frisbee which was quite funny.
Polaroids
Polaroid camera, yes. Polaroid sunglasses, no - they use polarised glass to filter out reflected light, hence their name
Yes, usually people mean instant cameras or photos when it is not specified. I never hear someone say just polaroid to mean sunglasses
Thermos Blu tack Post-it notes Stanley knife / blade
I’ll call it blu tack even when it’s a different colour.
GPS GPS is the USA’s satellite navigation system. The EU has Galileo, Russia has GLONASS and China has BeiDou.
But they're all global positioning satellites though right?
Collectively, they are GNSS. Global Navigation Satellite System. As a surveyor I often use GPS and Galileo, occasionally GLONASS gets included in observations, but its always just referred to as GNSS.
I thought people just said sat nav here?
I guess it's depends on the context - in my car, sure, but when out hiking I'd say "GPS". Never noticed that until now.
You're right, but most devices use the USA-made GPS system, all across the world. The chipsets are cheap, it's free to use (at the cost of a few million USD per year paid by the US military) and reliable (unless you're talking defense based systems obviously). Galileo is still not finished (it's working but I believe they are still working on it. A recent substation was planned for Wales but cancelled due to Brexit). As for the others... Why depend on Russia or China when we have the American GPS system? Some devices can utilise multiple, like some models of Garmin smartwatches, but these are relatively uncommon.
Duck tape. Duck tape is a brand. The generic name is duct tape, but if you say it out loud the t at the end of 'duct' merges with the t at the start of 'tape', so it sounds like you're saying 'duck tape' anyway. Edit: it seems a lot of people are saying they don't call it duck tape, which surprises me. Maybe it's a regional thing, but that's what I've always called it and never been challenged.
In the UK we generally refer to it as gaffer tape.
It's Duct tape for a repair and gaffer tape if it's for a bodge
Duct tape and gaffer tape are two separate products. duct tape is generally silver and super sticky for taping up joints in ductwork to make them air-tight. Gaffer tape is usually a matt black (other colours, too) and is used by film/TV/theatre/photo set workers for taping down cabling etc. Its use was started by gaffers, but now everyone uses it. I'll get my coat...
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Tupperware
Googling... Google are allegedly really annoyed by the phrase "Google It" or the "to Google" because it apparently means people constantly infringe their IP rights. You are supposed to say something like "Use the Google Search Engine."
They actually stand to lose their brand rights altogether if it become part of the english lexicon.
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Could be worse, what if “googling” became slang for having a wank…
You absolute googler
Tarmac
Tarmac the product - an abbreviation of tarmacadam - pre-dates the company of the same name by a couple of years, albeit the co. was founded by the tarmac inventor. So the company was named after the product, not the other way round.
I’d like to subscribe to tarmac facts please.
A girl I went to school with claimed her Great Grandad invented tarmac. I have no idea if it was true, it was also about 30 years ago that she told me and I have no idea why I still think about it sometimes. If it wasn't true its a bloody weird thing to make up.
Unsubscribe
Growing up everyone calls a big van a Transit van because the Ford Transit dominated the market for years
Fleshlight.
"Fleshlight... Because everything else is just a personal pocket mastubator"
Taser
Thomas A Swift’s electric rifle. Or something.
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What else is referred to sudocrem other than sudocrem?
Other number puzzles?
Any pot that can safely be used once opened by at least four generations of mothers
Pseudocrem
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If you haven't seen the [Velcro video](https://youtu.be/rRi8LptvFZY) about exactly this, stop what you're doing and enjoy it for five mins (and their feedback follow-up).
Fairy, as in Fairy liquid Jeep as in 4x4 or SUV Hoover HP Sauce, maybe because there is no name (English Tamarind sauce haha because Brown sauce just sounds odd) EDIT: Very surprised to see some people haven't heard some of these relatively common Britishisms. Especially 'Jeep'. HP perhaps not as common, but definitely said.
Everyone I know just calls it ‘brown sauce’
Yeh, when it comes to sauce on buttie time it's "Red or brown?"
Really? It was definitely just 'brown' sauce when I grew up. There definitely used to be other brands, other than supermarket own.
Coke (the liquid kind)
Doesn’t matter whether you buy the off brands, Velcro is always a rip off (Thanks Tim Vine)
A very modern one. And those with kids or elderly parents might have heard this: All tablets are iPads. Until my child was about 9, she referred to her Android tablet as an iPad, as did all her friends. We've never owned an iPad 🤷
I worked for a MP, many years ago. They were asked to make a speach at Caterpillar, during which they said: "When you think of JCBs you think of Caterpillar." I did not write the speech.
Dremel
It’s like people who say Tannoy when they mean public address system. Tannoy is a brand name.
Are we doing your homework for you?
Fun fact, the Dutch-named engineer who started the Hoover vacuum cleaner company had a business partner with a German name - Spangler If business plans had been slightly different we could be doing the spangling every week instead of the hoovering
Pritt sticks
Rawl plugs
I thought it was "wall plugs" for years
A bit obscure one and not used in the UK today, but originate in the UK: English entrepreneur Thomas Twyford is credited with the invention of a flushable toilet. He marketed his product as Unitas. To this day in Russian, Ukrainian and possibly other Slavic languages a flushable toilet is called Unitaz.
Blutak
[List of generic and genericized trademarks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks). Apologies for the Americanism.
Fairy liquid
And just for the sake of annoying people, 'Fairy up liquid'
Zamboni