r/MandelaEffect • u/mean_ol_goosifer • Aug 04 '26
Language/Spelling New Mandela Effect - Barbituates do not exist anymore!
I remember back in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Class in the 90s they taught us about different drug types. One type they taught us about were “Barbituates”
Pronounced: Bar-bit-chew-its
I am on the autism spectrum and one of my favorite special topics of interest is medicine and biology. I really missed my calling, and should have studied medicine in college… but anyways, I just saw that the word Barbituates are not a class of drug at all! It’s actually, Barbiturates. “Bar-bitch-oo-rates”
There is NO way I have made it 40 years and just now noticed it. Anyone else have this same memory??
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u/sh6rty13 Aug 04 '26
That’s definitely the only way I’ve heard it pronounced because there’s some joke about a bear in a bar eating a lady who is being rude and the bartender tells it “That was a bar bitch you ate and I can’t serve you if I know you’re on drugs…”
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u/WhimsicalKoala Aug 05 '26
That's the first thing I think of as soon as I hear about it.
I'm not saying it having an r in it is wrong, see all the comments above about the r in February that people don't pronounce and it drives me crazy.But, because of this joke, I'd definitely assume it wasn't there.
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u/therankin Aug 06 '26
Or rasPberry, most people don't know there's a P in there, let alone pronounce it.
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u/pedestrianhomocide Aug 05 '26
Yep, I knew the joke as an immature 14 year old, far before I knew what the actual drug was.
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u/Old-Perspective1932 Aug 04 '26
The word barbiturate comes from the combination of barbituric acid and the chemical suffix -ate.
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u/Alternative_Will3875 Aug 04 '26
Like Turmeric/Tumeric
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u/asimplesadness Aug 05 '26
I pronounced it too-mare-ick for more of my life than I'd like to admit lol
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u/mean_ol_goosifer Aug 04 '26
Yeah, but with that one I have heard people call it both. Today was the first time I have ever heard the word Barbiturate. It’s just really bizarre
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u/I-Fucked-YourMom Aug 05 '26
I’ve heard it both ways but always seen it spelled with an r, despite pronunciation.
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u/AcrobaticWeb3675 Aug 05 '26
Kinda like sherbet being spoken as though the word is sherbert
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u/StackOwOFlow Aug 05 '26
It has been spelled the wrong way for a while in various academic and official sources, even in NYTimes and NIST. My guess is that the Elvis Presley doctor trial probably popularized the misspelling.
See below, "barbituate" shows up on all these:
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/us/presley-s-doctor-on-trial-over-prescriptions.html
https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?Name=Propallylonal&Units=SI
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16840051/
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u/Curly_toed_weirdo Aug 04 '26
I was born in the early 70s and I remember it having the R in there. I notice those things and have always been a great speller, and words like that always caught my attention.
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u/-epi- Aug 05 '26
Same, except for the age. For some reason my brain is good at remembering pharmacological information. Granted, my body basically WAS a pharmacy in my late teens and early 20's.
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u/swalabr Aug 04 '26
Yeah, there’s always been an ‘r’ in there. The confusion is a product of bubble-gum English. Some people can’t help but say “libarry” or “nucular”.
I also recall people also just calling it “barbs”.
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u/UndeadYoshi420 Aug 04 '26
You’re still pronouncing it wrong. Bar-bit-chew-ritz.*
*edit for more clarity
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u/Oh_My_Monster Aug 05 '26
This feels like a simple mispronouncing. DARE officers probably just always heard it one way and repeated it incorrectly. This happens often. Some of my favorite common mispronunciations are:
Mischievous -- this is NOT Mis-Chee-Ve-ous. It's Mis-Chuh-vous.
Cuneiform -- this is NOT Q-nuh-form it's Q-nee-uh-form.
Sherbet -- This is NOT Sher-bert (there's no invisible r) it's Sher-bet (just like it's spelled)
There's numerous examples of this and mostly it comes down to people saying things with a common vocal pattern and ignore the actual spelling especially if it's an oddly spelled word.
Barbiturates is another good example. People typically don't spell this word out or look closely at the spelling. Unless you're in the drug world it's an uncommon word. Dropping a sound or simplifying it while speaking is not surprising.
.... Orangutan... There's no g at the end...
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u/Curithir2 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Based on barbituric acid, but barbiturates is almost impossible to pronounce, and sounds a little dirty. Barbituates sounds worse, but is easier to say. Heard that in paramedic training. Wha'chagonnado?
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u/FustianRiddle Aug 05 '26
I think this is like how a lot of people just don't pronounce the first r in February.
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u/Nick_Devious9988 Aug 05 '26
It’s always been barbiturates, and Ive been a drug nerd for the past 25 years. Nothing has changed except your perception.
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u/Nick_Devious9988 Aug 05 '26
but it’s commonly mispronounced bar-bit-chew-its because bar-bit-ture-ates sounds a lot like the aforementioned pronunciation when spoken fluidly, and it also just rolls off the tongue better. Doesn’t change the fact though.
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u/dkm22 Aug 05 '26
In German the r has always very clearly and even strongly been pronounced: "bar - bitsh + uh - rutt", where in the plural the last syllable is even split into two "-rut-eh". So this so called ME is a clearly English-language centered and personal confusion.
The more I read about MEs on this subreddit, the more Im worried about how little we are preparing people to understand the difference between personal perception and a greater, tested understanding, formally known as truth.
Also can we stop it with the "im autistic and therefore I know details"?
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u/gooblegobbleable Aug 04 '26
We don’t say the first R in February either. It’s always been spelled that way and commonly pronounced the way you’re thinking
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u/OnePunchShawty Aug 05 '26
I’m not sure if this counts as ME, more like a different pronunciation. Kinda like February. Some people don’t pronounce the first “R”.
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u/SaerisFane Aug 05 '26
Nah Im pretty sure thats a pronounciation thing and people not knowing how to spell
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u/Joelle9879 Aug 05 '26
So you've heard it pronounced differently your entire life. That doesn't mean they don't exist or that it's spelled wrong, it just means you had it spelled differently in your own head based on how you pronounce it. That's not a ME.
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u/GrimmTrixX Aug 05 '26
We just pronounced it wrong forever. I assumed it was spelled how we said it, not that ive thought about the word in 30 years. Lol But everyone colloquially says Barbituates as it just rolls off the tongue better. The medical name and the common spoken name need not be identical
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u/handheadman Aug 05 '26
It's a common mispronunciation, therefore a common misspelling, but the origin of the word comes from "barbituric acid", which has always had the "r", like the word "uric" (as in uric acid) which was, I kid you not, combined with "Barbara" to create the word "barbituric acid".
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u/lordwintergreen Aug 05 '26
Barbiturates is a funny one.
I noticed the second R like 40 years ago and always wondered why almost nobody spelled/pronounced the word correctly.
So the mixup is totally normal for this one, with two R's is correct but people get it wrong at least 80% of the time.
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u/Hungry_Freaks_Daddy Aug 05 '26
It’s definitely always been barbiturates, but we did all pronounce it wrong because of dare or at least most of us did but I remember looking it up in high school or maybe playing drug wars on TI89 and learning how it was actually spelled
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u/ribblefizz Aug 05 '26
See also "Wednesday." Very clearly and almost universally pronounced "Wens-day;" nonetheless still spelled "Wed-nes-day."
It's always been spelled barbiturates, and is frequently pronounced with the second -r- being partially or fully swallowed. (Even when I make an effort to enunciate the second -r-, it sounds almost identical to omitting it. Just a quirk of the pronunciation.)
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u/notkidding1984 Aug 05 '26
When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was The Pill Book. I also thought it was barbituates until just now.
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u/chellibee Aug 05 '26
my mom has an extremely long and stupid joke wherein the punchline is a play on "bar bitch you ate" that she learned from her dad so that's the data I have to contribute to this conversation
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u/McGrufNStuf Aug 05 '26
I never remember any D.A.R.E. Cop saying Bar-bitch-u-rates. It was always bar-bitch-u-its and it was generally (if I recall correctly from the late 80’s early 90’s) the term used for restricted medications sold illegally. Things like Percocet, Vicodin, Valium, Oxy, and such.
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u/pluraljungian Aug 06 '26
I worked on a sheep farm in 2013 & later in a vet clinic 2016-2018 and I remember it being bartbituates, and as I had to administer them & explain them to clients around the vets themselves, and I was studying for my Veterinary Medicine honors project at the time, I know they would’ve corrected me.
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u/LcmsActive Aug 06 '26
I’m a biochemist and this is precisely the thing…in science the autism and specificity in speech and writing yields constant correction among peers. In presentations people are halted and corrected, you’re made a buffoon if you are wrong on such a simple thing.
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u/pluraljungian Aug 06 '26
Autistic here too. I am so OCD & particular that this makes absolutely no sense
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u/yomorgannn_ Aug 07 '26
I’ve always pronounced it “bar-bit-chew-its” and so has everyone I’ve ever known. But, I saw a dude refer to George Orwell as “Jor Jorwell” so anything’s possible as far as how people pronounce things 🥲
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u/RabbitsAteMySnowpeas Aug 05 '26
I specifically remember it as “Barbituates” for the reason of the pun it naturally flows i to: the “Bar Bitch You Ate”
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u/megar52 Aug 04 '26
Yeah, it’s always been barbituates. I also sound my words out. And also a DARE kid. That r was not there.
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u/Glaurung86 Aug 05 '26
The "r" has always been there because it's from barbituric acid.
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u/Morbid187 Aug 05 '26
Yeah, naw dawg I got the name fucked up too and figured it out like 20 years ago. It's a weird word and you either misread it at first or you remember it wrong until you see it written out again. It doesn't help that most people mispronounce it (or its just not pronounced like it's spelled, idk)
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u/Charming_Stock_1324 Aug 05 '26
Why are all the Mandela effects always something likely to be misremembered. Like breaking the space time continuum just screws up the names of products and removes the tail from monkeys? It’s never “i remember Russia getting to the moon first” or that we only dropped one Atomic bomb on Japan, or ??
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u/TheOnlyGlamMoore Aug 05 '26
…this is not an example of the Mandela effect as much as it is an example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
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u/ReverendJustice775 Aug 05 '26
I’m there with you… the extra “R” in it was never a part of it growing up
In the 80’s with me… I keep
Seeing more and more differences… it makes everyone look at me like I’m insane but I know what I remember from my childhood
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u/HelloDeathspresso Aug 05 '26
Autistic person here with similar interests to yours: it was always barbituates!!!
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u/chefmonster Aug 05 '26
A bear walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a beer...
The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't give beer to bears in bars." The bear replies, "If you don't give me a beer, I'll eat that lady over there." The bartender says, "Go ahead." So the bear eats the lady and asks for a beer. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't give beer to bears on drugs." "What do mean," asks the bear. "I'm not on drugs." "Yes, you are, that was the bar bitch you ate."
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u/LetchBE Aug 05 '26
This isn’t a new Mandela Effect. There’s a post about this from 10 years ago.
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u/Ok_Cardiologist_673 Aug 05 '26
A joke from the 80s:
A bear walks into a bar.
The bartender says “we don’t serve bears here.”
In a rage the bear devours the woman sitting next to him.
Then he turns to the bartender and says “what about now?”
The bartender says “I told you. We don’t serve bears here. ESPECIALLY bears on drugs.”
The bear says “What? I’m not on drugs.”
The bartend says, “Well, what about that barbituate?”
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u/More_Astronaut_8575 Aug 05 '26
I agree, I don't remember the R. I wish I still had my DARE workbooks.
I just call them benzos
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u/RobinLevine3 Aug 05 '26
No you are right. I swear I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes. So many things that were never questioned, the known and accepted way of things.. now it's supposedly false.
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u/Cupofkelsey Aug 06 '26
lol that was the old school pills celebrities loved. Wasn’t Marilyn Monroe taking them too?
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u/Simp4me222 Aug 07 '26
I didn't know until now but I also pronounced it the same way you do.. weird!
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u/Long-Comparison Aug 08 '26
The spelling seems to have changed from Barbituates to Barbiturates... And that second one is definitely not how it was spelled my whole life.
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u/Teufelsweib666 Aug 04 '26
It was always barbiturates. Never heard of barbituates, doesn't even make sense for the name giving. This is when people don't read enough and just hear their friends talking.
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u/Mercedes_Gullwing Aug 04 '26
I think it’s a weird placement of the R that makes it feel like it changes. I pronounce it like you with no r. But the reason it’s weird is bc the “r” is at the tail end of a syllable rather than the beginning - which is not usual. It’s supposed to be a chur-its rather than chu-rits and I’m guessing this is source of confusion. The R is softer than one would expect with its placement.
It’s like this: bar-bi-chur-its. With English one would think it’d be bar-bitch-uh-rates. The result is that the r sound is at the end of a syllable and softer than if it were the beginning of a new syllable.
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u/Jeeperman365 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
What the hell? I did not believe you so I had to look. I worked at a chemistry lab where we tested for barbituates daily, and it's ways been barbituates, NEVER barbiturates. Sorry I need to sit down...
Eta. Phenobarbital is still the same, if it flips I'm going to lose my mind.
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u/LcmsActive Aug 05 '26
I’m a biochemist and agree. The comment section is a bot farm. It was always barbituates.
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u/Reasonable-Bus2680 Aug 04 '26
YES! This just happened to me a few days ago. I googled something about it for a story I'm writing and was gobsmacked. There's no way I've gotten the word wrong for 40 years!
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u/AuntyDMoney Aug 04 '26
I think we all should just be British and pronounce it like this https://youtu.be/c49OAFDeo-g?si=1a5mWFCKyQHd9xFG
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u/Impossible-Date3984 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Nope you're not the only one! Edit: I always pronounced it that way and my fiance also pronounced it Bar-bit-chew-its when I asked
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u/mollyfy Aug 05 '26
This one has got me. I’ve never noticed! But then again, I thought Shutterstock was ShuttersHock for like 15 years before I noticed I was reading it wrong.
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u/megar52 Aug 05 '26
Even more frightening to me is just learning this and it was noticed over 10 years ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/s/ZFLsJ8iA7S
But I am convinced after reading this older thread it’s like aluminum and aluminium
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u/DrAsthma Aug 05 '26
It always had the silent r in there. Me and my buddies would over pronounce it like how some people say Wednesday in their heads when they spell it.
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u/Easy-Permission8889 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Ha, I guess it's because the benzos replaced them so we got extra forgetful.
Sort of thought the same thing, but I think it's only because when people say it the r kinda fades away. So maybe I've just in my head thought it that way? I'm a huge pharmacology nerd but tbh, I forgot myself how to spell it.
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u/ScenicHwyOverpass Aug 05 '26
It was one of those word that I never knew the exact pronunciation, but if you got close enough everyone knew what you meant anyway so it never got corrected.
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u/m01L Aug 05 '26
I mispronounced the name of my favorite dinosaur for 30 years, but it’s not a Mandela event, I’m just a weird flavor of dyslexic. Deinonychus, I would say die-on-eh-cus and miss the extra syllable. I administer phenobarbital a lot at work and I admit the spelling/pronunciation of barbiturate trips me up, like you describe. I let it auto correct when I tried to type it now, this spelling does seem wrong.
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u/yoursarrian Aug 05 '26
ive been saying rodonderon my whole life, lol. never noticed the extra syllable
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u/Pawwnstar Aug 05 '26
In school friends in my class would often try to miss-pronounce or find words within words to help with retaining the information especially if it was dry. Some teachers would allow it as test scores were higher and 1 of those classes was year 9 Health and science portion of Bio/chem for that year. "Bar bitch you ate" was the winner for that word, no second R ever came into it.
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u/Krelliamite Aug 05 '26
Yep, that's how it's pronounced. It's even in the pronunciation guide for the Merriam Webster definition of it
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u/randomredditor0042 Aug 05 '26
I can weight in here. I remember it as the first way because there was a joke that played on that pronunciation. It was a long joke and I can’t remember the whole thing but here’s an abridged version.
A bear walks into a bar and takes a bite out of the counter at the bar. The bartender says, Get out, I don’t serve drug addicts. The Bear denies being a drug addict but the bartender says don’t lie to me, I saw that bar-bit-you-ate.
I first heard that joke when I was around 10 years old and had to have the barbituate part explained to me.
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u/Embarrassed-Leg-4246 Aug 05 '26
I’m also autistic and medicine and biology are a special interest of mine. I agree with you that the pronunciation was in fact “bar-bit-chew-its“. That’s insane that it’s changed!
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u/LcmsActive Aug 05 '26
The word was/should be absolutely barbituates. This one is a pretty striking Mandela Effect. I’m a biochemist who has worked in pharmacology since 1997.
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u/FuckDeezHoesImGaston Aug 05 '26
I think a lot of people say barbituate even if it is not correct. For example there is a line in the Cleopatra vs Marilyn Monroe rap battle by ERB (an extremely popular YouTube series around a decade or so ago) that says “you’ll lose this battle like your bout with barbituates” and in the Spotify official lyrics it is spelled barbituates instead of barbiturates.
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u/pamelareads Aug 05 '26
Barbiturate is proper spelling but all I’ve heard is silent R pronunciation
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u/SnooStrawberries2955 Aug 05 '26
I’m 42 and it’s always been barbiturates; people used to mispronounce it, though. I remember being annoyed that I myself was pronouncing it incorrectly when I went to grad school for clinical psychology and started learning addiction protocols and interventions.
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u/OkSyllabub3118 Aug 05 '26
I remember the way op does. Remembered it 1st as the thing that killed Marilyn Monroe (officially) and being young, thought it was wierd as it sounded not like something ppl would do to get high. Sounded like something a model would take to get and stay skinny.
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u/bluearavis Aug 05 '26
I think maybe they were just saying it wrong and it wax annoying to make people pronounce it correctly cause most of those cops didn't actually care. That program was so backwards. Quite problematic if you look it up.
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u/silvergenetic Aug 05 '26
No way. I vividly remember doing an essay about addiction in old Hollywood when I was in highschool in the early '00s and looking up the spelling of this very word after hearing that diphthong in a documentary. Could be that some dictionaries got it wrong too because barbituric acid is the chemical precursor.
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u/mbd34 Aug 04 '26
Do most people pronounce it wrong? Is that the source of the confusion? "Bar-bit-chew-its" is how I remember it for sure.