The legend I've heard is that the Xerox company built the first PC, complete with mouse, monitor, printer, and keyboard, but couldn't figure out how to market it. They let anyone come and see it, and kids like Jobs and Gates stole it for themselves. Maybe in the future, 'xerox' will mean 'didn't know a good thing when you had it." She dated that guy and dumped him right before he won the lottery. What a xerox!
Probably in the '90s, early 2000s. Usually it would be a teacher saying they needed to go make a Xerox/some xeroxes. I'm pretty sure some of those schools didn't actually have a Xerox-brand machine. I think most people say going to make a copy now, and it doesn't seem to be done nearly as often as it was 10 years ago.
Yup. By the early 00s it was rare to hear someone say xerox something but it was still pretty common in the late 90s. Offices in the military and civilian-military world.
I sometimes call in to an office to use their facilities and Melanie on reception will almost invariably ask me if I’m there to do some “ex a rock sing” (xeroxing) and I say yes and then ask if the “ex a rock” machine is in the usual place. We’ve been laughing at this one joke for over twenty years. Perhaps we should get out more?
Last time I heard it was in a dramatic re-enactment of a deposition where the witness did not know the word "photocopy" and the lawyer was not having it.