Mark Twain said that when he had a bad cold, a friend recommended a pint of whiskey. Then another friend recommended a pint of whiskey. Well, reasoned Twain, that makes a quart….
If you want a spot of cheap, morally dubious fun, give a bottle of Kombucha to a Japanese dude.
1: “Ok, why would someone make tea out of a kind of seaweed that’s used as a bullion cube?”
2: “What on earth is this, it doesn’t even taste like seaweed?!”
For all my life I’ve been wondering why medicine has to taste so horrible.
Luckily, my mother brought me up with “Bronchicum Elixir”, a cough syrup that … well, it’s still a big step away from lemonade, but at least it has some kind of likable taste.
If this company can do it, why in hell is that the only thing in the world that others didn’t copy??
That’s just it.
The natural active ingredients are bitter or weird tasting because they are technically poisons to whatever infection you are dealing with. Like willow bark is what aspirin was originally made from, and still is in some countries.
That is why there is always the flavoring and sugars added.
Mind you if they tasted too good then kids who don’t know too much as bad for you and a number of adults who are just idiots, would drink a whole bottle if it did taste good.
I can see a market for a aftertaste chaser but marketing and the FDA would be a problem. I remember the FDA insisting in having vitamins added to protein bars and athletes getting vitamin poisoning because of that stupidity.
Basically they don’t want you to get addicted to stuff. Here’s an an old article from Wired that explains what’s inside Nyquil and why it taste horrid.
OK. That explains a couple times when I was a teenager and my mother gave me some of that, and I just sat in a rocking chair going “wwwwwhhhhooooooaaaaaaaaa yyyyeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhh” for about 5 hours.
A friend of mine swears by the ‘one hat, two cat’ cure. Get a couple of bottles of your favorite libation, two cats, and a hat. Set the hat at the end of your bed. Get the cats on either side of you and get them purring. Drink until you see two hats. Go to sleep. She says she doesn’t know if it actually cures anything, but it makes being sick a lot more comfortable.
In every cough that has begun
There are some evidently dumb
Decisions cough syrup companies have made
And every cough that you produce
You must wash down with foul-tasting juice!
*Cough!* *Gag!*
It’s very clear to see
That…
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
In a most disgusting way
A doctor putting his cough syrup to the test has very little time to taste-test
His foul concoction that purports to help
Although intent in his pursuit
He can’t make it taste like fruit
So he adds some cherry gunk
And just gives up!
And so…
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
In a most disgusting way
See, this’s why I kinda have a love/hate relationship with the Buckley’s cough syrup you get here… their motto is “it tastes awful and it works”, and this is true… but it’s not the awful taste that’s the problem. The problem is that it actually works.
See, if you go from so stuffed up you can barely breathe to 10x your normal capacity to smell in about 3 seconds flat, it is surprisingly painful. There are no words in the english language which adequately describe the sensation of having no sense of smell and then being able to tell exactly how many hairballs are hidden behind the couch from 15 meters and no line of sight. There’s something horrifically unnatural about such, one might even say.
Like I assume most people to be, I can deal with a bad taste in my mouth. I can’t cope with cough syrup that actually works. Go figure.
Discussion (18) ¬
It’s why I treat my cough/cold to cheap whiskey. No sense wasting the good stuff on a sick guy.
See, I’ve noticed that whiskey doesn’t actually make me feel any better. However, I just don’t mind being sick as much.
Mark Twain said that when he had a bad cold, a friend recommended a pint of whiskey. Then another friend recommended a pint of whiskey. Well, reasoned Twain, that makes a quart….
Turtle Fart Spritzer. Nice. I wonder how long it will be before some Kombucha company makes that…All Organic, of course!
If you want a spot of cheap, morally dubious fun, give a bottle of Kombucha to a Japanese dude.
1: “Ok, why would someone make tea out of a kind of seaweed that’s used as a bullion cube?”
2: “What on earth is this, it doesn’t even taste like seaweed?!”
For all my life I’ve been wondering why medicine has to taste so horrible.
Luckily, my mother brought me up with “Bronchicum Elixir”, a cough syrup that … well, it’s still a big step away from lemonade, but at least it has some kind of likable taste.
If this company can do it, why in hell is that the only thing in the world that others didn’t copy??
That’s just it.
The natural active ingredients are bitter or weird tasting because they are technically poisons to whatever infection you are dealing with. Like willow bark is what aspirin was originally made from, and still is in some countries.
That is why there is always the flavoring and sugars added.
Mind you if they tasted too good then kids who don’t know too much as bad for you and a number of adults who are just idiots, would drink a whole bottle if it did taste good.
I can see a market for a aftertaste chaser but marketing and the FDA would be a problem. I remember the FDA insisting in having vitamins added to protein bars and athletes getting vitamin poisoning because of that stupidity.
Basically they don’t want you to get addicted to stuff. Here’s an an old article from Wired that explains what’s inside Nyquil and why it taste horrid.
http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-11/st_nyquil
Wow, Bug brings the funny AND the learnin’
[reads about Dextromethorphan HBr]
OK. That explains a couple times when I was a teenager and my mother gave me some of that, and I just sat in a rocking chair going “wwwwwhhhhooooooaaaaaaaaa yyyyeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhh” for about 5 hours.
Hot Toddies are the only way to go (if it ain’t Scottish, it’s crap).
You, good sir (or madam) have won the comments section for today, strictly for your parenthetical statement!
The classic kind with the hot metal, or the boring kind with the boiling water?
A friend of mine swears by the ‘one hat, two cat’ cure. Get a couple of bottles of your favorite libation, two cats, and a hat. Set the hat at the end of your bed. Get the cats on either side of you and get them purring. Drink until you see two hats. Go to sleep. She says she doesn’t know if it actually cures anything, but it makes being sick a lot more comfortable.
Our family doctor recommended Cognac. He said “of all the things that don’t work, it’s the best”.
It’s always worked for me…
In every cough that has begun
There are some evidently dumb
Decisions cough syrup companies have made
And every cough that you produce
You must wash down with foul-tasting juice!
*Cough!* *Gag!*
It’s very clear to see
That…
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
In a most disgusting way
A doctor putting his cough syrup to the test has very little time to taste-test
His foul concoction that purports to help
Although intent in his pursuit
He can’t make it taste like fruit
So he adds some cherry gunk
And just gives up!
And so…
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Doesn’t help the cough go down
Just a spoonful of syrup doesn’t help the cough go down
In a most disgusting way
See, this’s why I kinda have a love/hate relationship with the Buckley’s cough syrup you get here… their motto is “it tastes awful and it works”, and this is true… but it’s not the awful taste that’s the problem. The problem is that it actually works.
See, if you go from so stuffed up you can barely breathe to 10x your normal capacity to smell in about 3 seconds flat, it is surprisingly painful. There are no words in the english language which adequately describe the sensation of having no sense of smell and then being able to tell exactly how many hairballs are hidden behind the couch from 15 meters and no line of sight. There’s something horrifically unnatural about such, one might even say.
Like I assume most people to be, I can deal with a bad taste in my mouth. I can’t cope with cough syrup that actually works. Go figure.