Part II of some of
the most amusing, unusual, and sometimes, weird-sounding names ever coined for
real products, that were available in the Philippines –from the 1930s to the
1960s.
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BARRY’S TRICOPHEROUS, Brand name for: Hair Tonic against baldness, thinning hair and
dandruff
BARRY’S TRICOPHEROUS was introduced in the late 1840s by
"professor" and former New York wig-maker, Alexander C. Barry. The
term “tricopherous” alone conjures many
images—either a serious, incurable disease or the name of an extinct dinosaur.
But despite its name, the product did surprisingly well. Barry exhorted his customers: “Stimulate the
skin to healthful action with the Tricopherous, and the torpid vessels, recovering
their activity, will annihilate the disease.” Apparently, that worked for many
satisfied men. The product contains 97% alcohol, 1.5% castor oil, and 1%
tincture of cantharides (Spanish fly), which supposedly help stimulate the scalp’s
blood supply. BARRY’S TRICOPHEROUS is
still being produced and sold today by Lanman & Kemp-Barclay & Co.
GALISATUM: Brand Name for: Skin
Ointment
GALISATUM Lunas Galis was a skin ointment developed by
Dr. Carlos Jahrling of Botica Sta. Cruz in the 1930s. Dr. Jahrling was a German
pharmacist from Offenbach who opened his own business in Manila.“Galis” was an
all-encompassing local term for any skin
conditions. “-Atum” was a suffix that was
commonly used in pharmaceutical products
like “mentholatum”and “petrolatum”. GALISATUM with Lunas Galis sounds more like an
incantation or a Latin spell to improve skin condition, especially when you say
it thrice. But it does relieves prickly
heat, chafing, pimples, mange, eczema, dandruff and maladies with mysterious names like Dhobie’s
Itch (another term for Jock’s Itch) and Hongkong Foot (a slang for athlete’s
foot), as this ad from 1936 claims.
GAYTOP: Brand Name for:
Concentrated Hairdressing and Conditioner
Before gay language became more elaborate, it was okay to
for Helene Curtis to dub its latest hair conditioner product. GAYTOP. Nothing wrong with that--in the late
1950s. Today, GAYTOP sounds so suggestive with its homo-erotic undertones; it seems to reveal one’s orientation and preferred sexual
role—especially when talked about in a beauty parlor! Indeed, if this product
were around today, it will be a “brand that dares not speak its name”.
JAGGING JAGGING: Brand Name
for: Face Powder and Pomade
There really is no reason why a cosmetic product guaranteed to make you
“lovely to look at” be named JAGGING JAGGING. It is nonsensical, unfeminine and
the sound is far from mellifluous. But
Chun Huat Pomade Factory, the manufacturer, did just that, making it
hard to believe that Jagging Jagging is
indeed, a “girls’ favorite”. Ad from
1934.
KULSO-ALIS: Brand Name For: Anti-diarrhea, anti-dysentery
Another product coming from Dr. Jahrling’s Botica St.
Cruz is KULSO-ALIS, a concoction with a
brand name that comes from “Kulso” (diarrhea, loose bowel movement) and “Alis”
(to be free from, begone). It was a common way to coin brand names for products
this way, bewildering the Pilipino name may be to a foreigner. Perhaps this
anti-LBM medicine was really meant to target local market only.It is interesting
that Kulso-Alis lists opium as one of
its ingredients. Ad from 1937
(This article originally appeared in the online magazine Esquire Philippines www.esquiremag.ph, on 11 Feb. 2019, under the title "Funniest Filipino Brand names in the 20th Century", commissioned from the author, Alex del Rosario-Castro)
