The Effects Come Out of Where?

When I heard it on TV, I actually had to hit the eight-second rewind button to make sure that I had heard correctly. I did. Proof that not every product being marketed to a national audience pays a professional to offer the pluses and minuses of a given brand name.


Yes, this new heartburn medication has a name that is pronounced almost identically to “ass effects” — as in “This new heartburn medication has some rather unfortunate ass effects.” The odd part is that the way the name is written, AcipHex, might lead you to pronounce it “assip hex” — which isn’t much better but at least doesn’t immediately make someone think of oily discharge or other personal tragedies.

For what it’s worth, the medication’s website does note that AcipHex may cause diarrhea in adolescents and constipation in adults, so at least we can’t snag them on false advertising.