Sat 20 Sep 2008
In the States, one of our over-the-counter painkillers is Tylenol (generic: acetaminophen). English-speaking countries oveseas refer to it as Paracetamol†.
Pharmacology books often refer to it as APAP… but I’ve never gotten a good explanation as to where the abbreviation APAP comes from.
Turns out, the full chemical formula for acetaminophen/paracetamol/tylenol is N-Acetyl-Para-AminoPhenol (APAP), or simply para-acetylaminophenol. Ready for some word magic?
PARA-aCETylAMinophenOL
para-ACETylAMINOPHENol
para-aceTYLaminophENOL
I’m as giddy and excited about this as I was when I found out what MaAlOx stood for. I’m sure absolutely nobody else cares… but if you’ve ever met me, you know it’s the small shit that gets me every time.
† They also have the metric system, and most of them don’t have a retarded monkey running the country… but that’s a different story for a different time.
Cool!
I only recently stumbled upon your blog, but I believe it was fated – your post almost made me giddy!
OOOH! i had a similar moment regarding “gardasil”…it guards you against Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions!
Really? Awesome!
Both the gardasil and the paracetamol origins = awesome.
Thanks for the post!
Awesome!
When I found this out, I was extremely happy about it too. The Gardasil and Maalox ones are cool. I wonder how many other ones there are!
looks awesome:)….nice blog!!!!
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