Heroin Cough Syrup?
Heroin Cough Syrup? Watch the video to find out why.
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Posted on April 25, 2008 · Filed Under Lessons
Yes, it was sold as medicine, or….sort of.
nice video, though it looks like she did it after cleaning the house, or just came home
………still a 5 star !!! 
Aspirin is now no longer a proprietary name. Keep up the good work, Marina-love!
Hay Snazzells
you kick start my heart every time i watch you do your thang..
my word is pistol bang bang
tom
Acetylsalicylic Acid, or otherwise known as ASPiRIN. I actually made some in an Organic Chemistry lab back in college, but I would not of eaten it!!!!! By the way…… I LOVE YOU !!! PLEASE MARRY ME!!!
Oh sorry…….. for your video
asprine its a thought but I am just guessing off the top of my head.
RED
Great investigation, I had no idea that heroin used to be Heroin. Between coca in Coke and Smack Cough Syrup for Children (I wonder if there used to be a horse on the label?) it must have been a blurry time in the ol’ 1800’s.
That’s right, it’s now lowercase.
Or, another way of putting it: Aspirin® became aspirin.
Cocaine as in Coca-cola the drink, cocaine was also used in ear drops, cough medicine and some other products as well which were all banned by the government causing some of these manufacurers to lose their trademarks,patents, copyrights. At least I think so
you right……coca cola was given to keep you awake due to cocaine in it……they company coca cola many times went bankrupt…..
Home answer to Heroin Cough Syrup? video
aspirin
I know Bayer created Aspirin, but their patent expired. Is that the word
Aspirin 
ok, I would like to make a request. I am totally befuddled by this word: “OBLOQUY”. My sister keeps using it and not telling me what it means; I can’t even begin to conceive were it comes from or how to use it…
lots of love - jimbo
Greetings Marina (the hottest teacher on planet earth),
I’ve recently seen a documentary on ‘Metal’ music and the different origins of the band’s that play metal. However, the documentary never mentioned the origin of the word ‘Metal’.
If you do this, this will complete my knowledge of a music genre I enjoy listening to.
My request:
Metal
thank you!
p.s.
if you have time, would also like the word origin of ‘genre’
what about the origin of the phrase,,
“smart Alec” alex alecs????
love the podcast,,, becomming a daily fix,,, thank you
bayer probably lost the copyright to the word “aspirin”. i can’t wait for your book.-tom from staten island,n.y.
ASPERIN
Hi Marina,
I just stumbled across your site & now I can’t get enough of you….uh…..I mean your “lessons!” What can you tell me about the word “Deguello?” Thanks!
can you tell me the origin of the word “internet” for everyone knows what it is but not where it came from. thank you.
Hi!
My word, or phrase is : stercore tuari
Larry Lemke
Fargo, ND
Hi Marina,
I would like to know the origin and the meaning of the word “Fetish”
I’ve been arguing to my friend saying that a “Fetish” is not just something sexual, but I’m not sure about that myself.
Please help me out. haha
Hi Marina,
I recently subscribed to your website and greatly enjoyed your last video.
Can you please tell me the origin of the word: PHILANTHROPY
With many thanks,
Gaia
(Australia)
Hi Marina,
I’m new with all this but I wanted to know the origin of the phrase What’s Up?
Thank You!:)
Hi, I have a nice challenge for you and a word many of my friends use that I am solicitous to know the meaning of
The word: bob saget
Please try without the use of internet (thats a hint) to identify the origin of the word and its meaning as best you can,who made the word become popular, and anything else you can do to inform us about the word.
it is often pronounced as one word bobsaget, could also be written as bob-saget. Very often it is pronounced as a conjunction word and their is not usually a pause between words. You could pronounce it as one word. If thats the case could you try and define the word bob-saget.
I also forgot to mention you have previously explained other “words” which are really two words or more:
Valentine’s Day
Raining Cats and Dogs
Rule of Thumb
Soap Opera
Spitting Image
To the Nines
Trick or Treat
White Elephants
Head Over Heels
Fifth Element
Eleven and Twelve
Duck Tape
Duct Tape
Balls to the Wall
Horse Opera
Hot Dog
According to dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/word) and my large Merriam-Webster dictionary at home a word can be defined as: “a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions.” Thus, you have been misguiding your students on the very foundation of English morphology and philology by defining or explaining phrases to your students and trying to pass them off as words. When in fact they are not words but phrases.
Even on Wikipedia if you search hot dog (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_dog) it blatantly refers to it as a phrase: “According to a popular myth, the use of the complete phrase “hot dog” in reference to sausage was coined by the newspaper cartoonist Thomas Aloysius”
If you are wondering, the request for the word definition of “bob saget” was a ploy to prove a point about your videos hot for words containing errata.
Wasn’t he the guy who did The World’s Funniest Home Videos, or whatever that show was called? If his name has become a word, then I would suppose it has something to do with some funny antic.
I don’t know why I’m repeating myself but here it goes.
there’s more than on definition of what a word is. actually, it’s very hard to say what a word is, or a sentence. you may try to read up on morphology, phonology, and syntax.
syntactically, words are more or less phrases, too. as are sentences.
consider “can not” / “cannot”. one word? two words?
many, many linguists all over the world have tried to come up with a definition for “word”. so far, there’s about four definitions most linguists agree on. depending on the linguistic field.
there was no ploy, by the way. you asked for the word “bob saget”, not the phrase. other people on here request phrases. mostly idioms.
by the way, wikipedia is not really a great reference. “hot dog” seems to be a compound word if it refers to the food. it’s a phrase when you refer to an actual dog that’s hot. but you know that, right?
Can you tell us the origin of the word Slav?
Can you tell me, A place where people drink at is A bar, pub, (night)club.
I was wondering where the phrase “making out” came from.
Kissing and making out don’t sound a lot a like haha
I was walking with my 4 year old grandaughter today and we looked at the beautiful flowers on the dogwood trees and she asked me why they call them, “Dogwood?” Please research the word Dogwood.
Because of the bark.
The research I’ve done indicates that although many people believe that is the origin of the word, there were earlier meaning from old english.
Hmmmm. If people really believe that’s the origin of the name, then they must be using the kindergarten joke book as their reference.
It was just too easy of a pun to pass up.
I can’t believe I missed the pun. I’ll share that origin with my grandaughter.
I’d love it if you did the phrase “pyrrhic victory.” I find its origin story really interesting, and not many people know the word let alone the story behind it.
I work in water resource conservation and noticed a lot of streams in South Central Pennsylvania begin with the prefix cono- (ie: Conowingo, Conostoga, etc). I’m guessing it stems from a Native American language, any more info than that would be interesting. Thanks.
Yep. My old girlfriend went to Conestoga High School on the outskirts of Valley Forge. And we can add location names such as Conshohocken, Conneaut Lake, and Conequenessing Creek to that list. Maybe even Canadohta Lake up in northern PA as well. And let’s not forget Fort Ticonderoga. I’m guessing the natives of the Susquehannock language group figure prominently into the mix there. But aside from place names, not that much is known about them because they left so long ago. There were also other groups like the Erie, Oneida, Mingo, and Seneca who were known to travel and trade through central PA.
But as far as I know, the state of Pennsylvania has no formally recognized Native American tribal groups still existing. They all were either forced out or eradicated back in the late 18th century. Kind of a sad statement, eh? Maybe someone will prove me wrong. I kind of hope so.
Privet, Prepodavatel (I hope I spelled that right). If I may, I would like to tweak something. It was said that heroin was from German Heroin (both were pronounced the same way and in German the H should be capitalized). When pronouncing “Heroin” in German the I should be pronounced as a long E. Like: hair-oh-een. The IN at the end of German words is always pronounced een. For example:
Nikotin
Terpentin
Nitroglyzerin
Kerosin
Vaselin
Benzin
Berlin
Kokain
Machs gut. Viel Spaß.
Marina is my heroine.
She’s my heroin.
Where does the expression “Badge Bunny” or “Holster Sniffer” come from?
Where does the word “tattoo” come from? And do you have any?
can you find the origin of toffee? thanks
My word is ’soccer’
Why does the rest of the world call the sport football and Americans use the word soccer? Where does it come from?
Love yaahh
What a stream……Introduce us to your sister. That would be interesting. Is she helping with production?
TEACH IS LIKE HEROIN, VERY ADDICTIVE
AND MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD TO BE ON… 
..HER. AND FEEL LIKE CRAP WITH OUT …….HER? 
hey how are doing today i fine
can you do a thing on Vampire’?
ples
and i would to be a your pet ples
I wonder iffn this a “Red Herring” case?? LOL
How about the word Obtuse
I have always wondered how the same word can be used as a technical term in geometry, AND be a euphemism for being dumb
noncognitivism
Obviously you have become quite the internet sensation of late. I applaud you for your accomplishment, intelligence, and cleverness in bringing etymology to the masses.
Four years ago I created a website entitled http://www.freefrankgable.com.
It is the story of a petty criminal who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Oregon Corrections Chief Michael Francke 17 years ago. A conviction which was obtained primarily from the testimony of drug users and jailbirds who were looking to make a deal on their own charges or possibly collect reward money. Other reasons consist of inadequate representation, prosecutorial misconduct, withholding of evidence, suppression of exculpatory evidence, inability to use third party guilt defense, corruption, and a cover-up within the department of corrections and state government.
One such witness, Cappie “Shorty” Harden, the state’s only alleged eyewitness, was located by myself three years ago living just three miles from my home. I befriended Shorty and a month later he admitted to a local newspaper reporter that he lied at trial when he said he witnessed the killing. He is not the first witness to recant his testimony, although he’s the most significant.
There was never any physical evidence admitted at trial that could implicate Frank Gable in this crime, and interestingly, the victim’s family believes in Mr. Gable’s innocence as well.
I’d be honored if you have the time to peruse my website to familiarize yourself somewhat with the case and possibly profile it in some way in order to enlighten the masses to this travesty of justice.
I realize that request doesn’t quite fit within the boundaries of your videos, but….you never get anything unless you ask for it.
It is quite difficult to come up with one word which might enable you to bring attention to Mr. Gable’s wrongful conviction. I have offered some phrases within the context of this post that might be appropriate. The word “injustice” comes to mind initially, although you’re the philologist. Haha!
Again, congratulations on what you’ve accomplished with your website, your YouTube page, as well as academically.
Rob Taylor
Webmaster: http://www.freefrankgable.com
exploitative, intrusion, ill-chosen & encroachment
I like “exculpatory.”
Very nice, how ’bout ’schmaltzy’
You’d do better not to have loud, crappy music on that website. At least have a button to click it off. It’s hard to read with that going, and takes away from the seriousness of the issue.
o.k. - found the button to turn it off. It’s hard to see - you have to scroll down to find it, and it’s not highlighted or made obvious.
Thanks for the critique. You’re the first in four years to mention not liking the music. I’ve actually received a few compliments from others over song choices. I have a tendency to speak through music sometimes. It is the universal language. Guess we don’t share the same musical taste.
Thanks for taking the time to peruse the website. Your point is well received, and I’ll be taking the music off.
My objections are that this doen’t belong on this site
It is really too off topic & is placed here because of HFW’s popularity and is too exploitative. I won’t visit his site as I don’t trust him. He “befriends” a perjurer (exploitative) for friendship or to use him? I thought this was suppose to be about words. What about my causes? I have a car to sell why don’t I just post in on this site?
okay4now - I don’t disagree.
Two nominations for your to consider.
Flirt
Eye Candy
heeey marina i wanna ask if you can do the word Honorificabilitudinitatibus? thx greez
I would like to know the origins of cynarin
Hello Marina. I wonder what is the origin of word “HotForWords”
Testing.
Craning my neck.
I want to know how you can be a “Jack” of all trades, be nick-named “Jack” (when your name is really John), play “jacks”, and be the 3rd or 4th ranking card (depending on what you’re doing with aces) in a deck (shouldn’t that be the prince)? You can “jack around” with someone you’re giving a hard time to. If someone doesn’t care they may or may not “give jack crap”. You raise a car with a “jack”. Someone who is out of line is “jacked up”.
What is Jack?
Yours, beezhan
oh… and “asprin” I would think.
Your wondering who Jack is?
Welcome to the club. I am a Jack, or thats what my parents call me. When I grew up I was always confused. My dad asked me to lift the end of the car so he could change the tire. My mommy used to label my cloths with my name on it so I would know it was mine. So I went to Jack-in-the-Box restaurant and tried to take out all the hamburgers to restock my fridge and the employees said I couldn’t do that. I said why not? 
My name in on everything in the store! I have a radio station. It’s called 96.5 JackFM http://jackseattle.com/ . I tried to change the stations broadcasting channel and they threw me out the door. Im the Jack of all trades. I’m a RC pilot, skipper, Marketing manager, cook, teacher, rescue swimmer, forklift driver, security guard, cart racer, ham radio operator, helmsman, gunner, traveler, computer programmer, photographer, engineer, shall I continue? When I left for work at the end of the day my friends would always say “When do you get off Jack?” My real name is not John. Nobody wants to play Jacks with me. Marina doesn’t give Jack crap about me. Its maybe because I act like a jack ass. I better stop Jack Sprat before he jumps over the candle stick. No wait? What that Jack be nimble? heheheh….
__/)__
Just slip out the back Jack. And set yourself free….
Oh yea! I forgot about that one. Thanks lividemerald
Can you tell me the orgin of the word “dike/dyke” and how a word to define a waterway came to mean a slang term for lesbian?
Think about that for a minute…and remember how stretchy slang can be…LOL
great show as usually i would like to now the mening of the word hardcore
Marina I think it was aspirin.
TheWorldsHomeliestMan
Hi Marina, i would like the origin of the word “rugby”, you know, the beastly game played by gentlemen…
liebe grüße
michi
i would like to KNOW the word, sorry for the error…
Marina, great video. Much Chortle
Bob Crane? hhmmmm….Bob….
Had a visitor during the week, uninvited. Stole many items, but thankfully he didn’t get far when captured. So got me thinking about the word, burglary and where it originates from. Hope you can investigagte
My G-sibs have Presented me with a problem word. They are Presently asking how when I Present their Presents to them, I seem to have Presented a Present they did not wish for, which is a problem at the Present time as presently I am busy but can return the Presents to the Present shop tomorrow…….. can you help us out on this one teach?
ThanX HFW143always
Hi Marina!
Can you plz tell me the origin of the word STIGMATA? I know that it’s an illness but i heard it to be used in some other contest.
Bye
Hey Marina,
Could you get me your sisters cellphone number and email addy for me? Why you ask? Well I think your identical twin sister is smarter and cuter than you. I think I should ask her out on a lunch date to get to know her a bit more.
Carefull what you ask for Captain, she may just sink your ship. Sisters don’t have the same personalities, or outlooks. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=78RO3bjdTXc aye, aye & cheers
I have a serious request…. i would like to know what the origins of the word onomatopoeia are…. thanks for all your help professor!!!!
What are the origins of the word ‘Vampire’?
wampyre
If I’m not mistaken I think the name heroin is just a trademark name for a children’s cough syrup. That may be the reason y.
hello, Marina.
as I posted on youtube:
how did the word “lick” come to mean both:
“to stroke with the tongue”
~ANNNND~
“to strike (with fist or weapon)/to decisively defeat an opponent”?
that really seems peculiar.
kuramashot881 posted (imo) a good one: “stalemate”
I suspect it is Farsi, through chess, like “shah maht” became “checkmate”
What are the origins of the word
sadomasochism
Hello my dear teacher…
Another nice lesson to start the day with. Even though I feel I coud use some medicine, I think I will pass that one!
I have a question, that may be seven….
Is there an explanation for the word wednes???
My real question, where does the name of the weekdays actually come from.
Some say you have the tuesday and thursday from our old nordic Gods Tyr and Tor, but is that true and where does the other come from??
From your dear student / Swedehunter
Hi
The way I understood it, ‘wednes’ is a derivation of Wotan’s, Wodin’s or Odin’s day. I think you probably are familiar with that one too, eh, Swedehunter? Freytag I’ll leave to you.
The others are astronomical references, sun, moon (monday), and the planet saturn.
Actually, I believe that they are all astronomical references and that there are only seven days in a week because, when the words were first coined, there were only seven astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye - Sun, Moon and the five planets, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn.
If the telescope had been invented earlier we would all be working longer before we got a weekend.
Wednesday is Wotan’s Day, and Friday means Freya’s Day.
Then isn’t the expression Thank God It’s Friday a sort of theistic mishmash? Mixing Christianity with Norwegian mythology? On the other hand, Christianity is well known for dipping into paganism for one apeasement or another….
Hi first started watching you from phil’s site and its great to see a beautifull women…..ok I forgot what I was going to say :s
Anyway my favourite word is……..
Wolly
I use it for everything especially when people in the world do stupid things.
Thanks xx
Aspirin. Others include xerox, kleenex and vise-grip.
i have a few more word that come to mind.
1. hi
2. so
3. yes
thank you
cigarette
that the word id like to know about 
what does the word REDNECK come from could you do that for me thx. Marina!
read Thomas Sowell’s [u]Black Rednecks and White Liberals[/u] for a decent explanation for that word’s history.
it apparently comes from the borderlands of England and Scotland, and from the Scottish Highlands.
Work in a field, get sunburn to your collar.
Red-Neck.
Let see if anyone knows the meaning of SUNTORY or what is is?
how about the word/name barbie as in the doll
That’s the nickname for Barbara, the First name of the woman that Created Barbie (which is trademarked by Mattel)
Marina,
Can you please define the word “Defenestrate” for me. Thanks in advance =)
an apparently recent construction from Latin: “to toss out of a window”
it might be from french or english writers. I don’t believe it is legitimately “classical” or classically derived through natural linguistic drift.
Marina’s take on this will be more thorough, I’d imagine.
Hello Marina
This is my first time on your site. I find it very interesting to find out where some of the words and phrases in you lessons come from, If you dont mind i would like to know the origin of the word saint and its meaning? i would also like to know about the word foreman, since I am one myself.
Foreman.-
Man to the fore or front.
Front-man. Foremost man, leader.= Foreman as a leader in a job department or building site.
Hi Marina,
I wrote to Bill O’Reilly and told him to bring you back on his show.
Maybe you could investigate the word “Microcephalic” and tell Bill that he is using “Pinhead” in a politically incorrect way. He doesn’t seem to listen to me. I’m sure you could straighten him out.
Where did the phrase “Make-Up” come from?
Our trusty locution deciphering heroine, at what point can we look forward to throwing you a graduation party?
sorry i meant origion not oridion
can you find the oridion of the word zoo?
can you do the word skold
thanks topher
Is the other Bayer product asprin? u are hott!!!!
I mean aspirin. I’m not a good speller teacher
groat
Is Kool-Aid still an actual trademark, or has it become a “lost” word due to their popularity?
I’m pretty sure it’s still a trademark, owned by Kraft Foods Company.
Ok, yeah I thought it still was, but it is very common now for any artificial fruit drink, as evidenced by the fact that “drinking the kool-aid” comes from an instance where it was actually Flavor-Aid BRAND that they drank. (See Marina’s lesson on that!
)
I have a really good word….BRASSIERE, interesting…you know
anyway a love you site.
Aspirin, and the name Bob
is very funny.
TEACH HOPE YOU TRADEMARKED HOTFORWORDS, TOO?
HOW BOUT MORE FULL BODY SHOTS???????
Cisco lost rights to iPhone trademark????
Hello Marina,
I have a phrase for you look into, “Cute as a bugs ear”,
If you would so please to do so.
P.S. I like your nose.
Do bugs have ears? I hadn’t heard that.
Flies are bugs aren’t they?
You’ve heard the expressions “Fly on the wall” and “Walls have ears”, so, even if the bug didn’t have its own ears, if it sat on the wall it would by proxy.
Guess what I kinda do for a living; I am sorta a Hacker I would still like a video of that btw thanks marina for doin the word horny on your radio show.
Asprin…
Well my request is for three words but they all refer to the same thing.
Why do Americans call them chips while Brits call them crisps, and what we Brits call chips Americans call French Fries?
Confuses the hell out of me.
As Sir Winston Churchill said, “Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.”
Hi Bob (mirriorman) I got lost after the golf lesson
replyin to your reply to me there… watched the clips on Amy… noted the country of origin of vid’ poster, editors..wtvr. I had breakfast with an English friend & asked him about english journalism, He said that it’s not, in England anyways, as important to get the facts, but more about getting the “juicy bits”.He said here in Canada the reporting tends towards boring,,, the to vid’ origins, Italy & Britan, gave me a totaly different vibe.
Another terrible disfunction http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqtR8AlkHM&feature= related
I’m lovin this artist, as a man of little understanding http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tjQP9931NhU&feature= related
The French call them frites. That’s short for pommes frites, which is short for pommes de terre frites, since pommes frites would literally mean fried apples.
new word PENISLOGY?
Dear Teacher:
I would like to know the origin of the word PERKELE, I know ITS NOT an english word but I think it wouñd be pretty interesting to know
gracias
Yes, the word is Aspirin
For a future lesson I would like to request the word “woo”
did someone pee on your rug?
I don’t get it
woo pee’d on the dude’s rug.
rent the movie, its a cult classic.
Is it a John Woo movie?
I especially like the part with the beach blanket.
Do they play beach blanket bingo?
Bayer lost the trademark for the word Aspirin, as well.
I would like to request a video on the word ‘fetish’ as in; I have a fetish for girls with Russian accents.
Especially slow rushin’ accents.
could u do a video for Suicde for am8 of mine
No one I rather learn from but you but can you tell me where touche (too-shay) came from.
I sworda think it’s French.
I hope Bob and Arnold aren’t trafficking Heroin…
mm.. this one didnt lost its trademark but it was pretty close, its kleenex you know the tissue?
Bayer marketed heroin as a cure for morphine addiction before it was discovered that heroin is converted to morphine when metabolized in the liver, and as such, “heroin” was basically only a quicker acting form of morphine. The company was somewhat embarrassed by this new finding and it became a historical blunder for Bayer.
As with aspirin, Bayer lost some of its trademark rights to heroin following the German defeat in World War so the answer is “aspirin”
You named the bird Bob.It looks like a Bob..haa Thanks for the great lesson.Five stars
no, it doesn’t. it looks like a bird.
What about Bob?
bob doesn’t look like a bird.
or do you, bob?
I spent twenty five years of my working life flying (actually 11500 hours or a year and a half; the rest was sitting around airports waiting) but now the doctors have taken my wings away so maybe I look more like a plucked chicken.
who the fuck …?
C’mon man, you never heard of Hogan’s Heros?
Schultz!
yeah, I googled it, so now I know what you’re talking about. over here it’s not called hogan’s heroes. never watched it anyway.
wasn’t bob crane into some kinky shit and was later murdered by a lover? I thought my ideas were pretty good and obviously ignored! The crane belongs to the species balearica reulorum, so I thought possibly baily. The crane belongs to the subspecies gibbericeps, so I thought, and this was really appropriate, gibberish! bob crane, come on!?
yeah, I thought caine, as in kwai chang caine, was a pretty good one, too. there’s crane-style kung fu which connects caine and the crane. bob! dude … wtf.
I’ll call it like bender called it. flying jerk.
how come there’re no female animals in the videos?
Bob + http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zJfSI4cKWLY
ok, I missed out on this part of american pop culture. so this is a comedy about allied p.o.w.’s in german captivity? and what does this have to do with the crane? Now every time I see this crane I’m going to think WWII, kinky gay sex and murder. Yum.
I choose to remember Bob Crane in a possitive light as He was a family guy that got badly derailed & nobody helped… or interveaned… or managed to get him back on track. My family has been affected by the reality of drug related problems as have most by (choose an addiction) problems, they need to be dealt with. How are we doing??? http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=8NqKUparBLw&feature= related Comedy doesn’t always end up funny.
Strange how drugs & substances etc. that help, also harm. Richard Dawson was the bad ass character on Hogan’s Heroes & somehow his personal charm helped him continue in showbiz, and as a lovable game show host, why? http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=lKeoo_J1-Oc
YAY!!! My name’s up in lights!!!
Aspirin ranks right up there with heroin and penicillin,,, I think
It has many different uses.