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TIL that "aspirin" was actually originally a trademarked brand name owned by Bayer.
(www.jonesipl.com)
Heroin is also the trademark named for a drug owned by Bayer.
this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2026
133 points (95.2% liked)
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They also sold infected plasma knowingly
Wait what?
Bayer knowingly sold blood-clotting agents infected with HIV to Asia and Latin America months after withdrawing them from Europe and the US, an American newspaper claimed yesterday.
Cutter Biological continued to dump stocks of the factor VIII blood-clotting agent for haemophiliacs on poor countries for nearly a year after introducing a safer alternative, the report in the New York Times said.
Way to bury the lede. Time to hate on the world again, excuse me.
Yep, so named because it was a heroisch (heroic; strong) painkiller.
If you dig a little deeper you‘ll learn they lost a lot of trademarks because of uuh… events.
Like how in the UK everyone says they will run the Hoover over the carpet, even though the vacuum cleaner might be another brand
Even more than that, it's a verb. "Have you done the hoovering yet?" or "Don't make a mess, I just hoovered" are both perfectly normal sentences here. 😃
Atlanta Georgia:
"How ya'll fine folks doing tonight? Can I get ya started with some'in to drink?"
"I'll have a Coke"
"Sure, sug. What kind?"
"Sprite"
"Aw, I'm sorry. We only carry Pepsi products!"
"..........how do you sleep at night?"
Considering the outsized presence of Coca-Cola there, understandable reaction.
Atlanta Georgia
Can confirm Austin, Texas, as well. I bet it's all through the south.
And in US cities, people often take their trash to the Dumpster. Originally, it was a model name of a bin called Dempsey's Dumpster.
Otto-man, you’re living in a dumpster?
Apparently it was related to some marketing campaign that Hoover had, way back. Where, if you bought a product you either got a discount off a return plane ticket to America or you got them outright.
As a result, there was a huge uptick in the number of people buying Hoovers in the UK, to the point that they actually became synonymous.
In German a hairdryer is called “Fön”/“Föhn”, which is an old brand name, too.
Apparently acetylsalicylic acid is the chemical name, I think I'll stick with Aspirin
It's often called ASA in medical usage.
Or ASS in German 😁
AAS in common Brazilian street parlance.
just tylenol is used in place for generic acetaminophen, or paracetamol.
Hah, I didn't know it wasn't. (not english native speaker)
Using that word misses out on the much more fun original name: Acetylsalicylic acid.
yeah, I get why "Aspirin" stuck
Even better. There's a generic that just abbreviates the German name of the active substance for its name: AcetylSalicylSäure
now that I can get behind!