Why do people say “Excel spreadsheet” instead of “spreadsheet”?

They say “I’ll email you an Excel spreadsheet,” wasting words, while they would never say “I’ll drive my Ford car to the store.”

The pattern is different than using names like Kleenex to mean a tissue. People say “Can you hand me a Kleenex,” not “Can you hand me a Kleenex tissue.”

As a Linux user who dislikes proprietary software, I finished business school without using Excel. It isn’t necessary. Libreoffice works and is free as in speech as well as in beer.

I’ve used its spreadsheet program to do detailed discounted cash flows, pivot tables, and other complex stuff. I know serious power users find Excel essential.

For most purposes Libreoffice does what Excel can’t. It’s often more compatible, works on more operating systems, and more.

I recommend stopping advertising for Microsoft for free.

EDIT: After writing the above, I noticed people saying they “did a Google search,” which seemed the same issue. I use DuckDuckGo almost exclusively because of its privacy policies. Or rather because of Google’s creepiness.

Maybe I’ll compile a list of such advertising.

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