Midol

I'd use the singular, I think? You wouldn't say a couple of Tylenols, you'd say a couple of Tylenol, as 'pills' is implied.

I'm more concerned with the singular of cramp and 'the monthly period,' in that excerpt.

Grammatically correct or not, I've certainly heard people refer to brand-name pills as midols, tylenols, or advils etc. and done so myself.

Whether you want to do this in your narrative depends (in my opinion and not all here will agree with me) on whether you're relating events in a form of third person (limited third, especially if the so-called narrative distance is close) where you're using the character's voice, or if you're trying to sound more like an external narrator with a more formal voice and style and the character's voice only comes into dialogue and direct thoughts.

josephperin said:

The things that occur to you when you start writing!

She splashed cold water on her face and quickly swallowed a couple of Midols, gritting her teeth against the cramp in her lower abdomen. The monthly period was never a non-event for her.

I believe it's not grammatically correct. Not sure of the alternatives. A couple of Midol pills? A couple of pills from the Midol bottle?

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It looks fine to me. I hear people say things like "I took a couple Advils" all the time.

However, I'd suggest a couple other changes:

--"cramp" to "cramping." The first one implies a single event; the second one, an ongoing event, which is what you probably want there.

--"Her monthly period" to just "Her period" (and eliminating "for her" at the end of that sentence). That would sound much more natural.

<-- Despite the fact that I usually agree with Roxxsmom, I've never agreed that it's okay to use improper grammar in third person narrative just because a character might not know the difference.* No matter how "close" to the character you're trying to write, it is still a narrator telling the story, not the character. If I saw "a couple of Midols" in a novel, I would think the mistake had gotten by the editor. What's next?

She looked out the kitchen window and saw two deers crossing her front yard.


*An exception would be if
1) the narration contained improper grammar right from the beginning
2) the improper grammar continued through the rest of the novel
3) it was obvious the author had made this a style choice.

Notice BethS omitted the "of" and said "a couple Advils" which I agree is correct (or perhaps "a couple Advil" fits me better, no plural s).

To me the equivalent to this with Midol would be:

"a couple Midols" (no of)

But I would also suggest I don't usually hear or say Tylenols or Advils plural, so finally what we have as my best recommendation (imho) is:

"a couple Advil"

That's how I hear it said anyway: Also agree with "cramping" or some other version there than cramp singular.

atthebeach said:

Notice BethS omitted the "of" and said "a couple Advils" which I agree is correct (or perhaps "a couple Advil" fits me better, no plural s).

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Depends where you are, of course. In (I dunno - parts of? all of? ) America that would work. In other places, you'd need the "of".

As an acceptable plural of aspirin can be both aspirin and aspirins, I'm going to be less rigid here than in my previous post and say that Midols might be okay, although I wouldn't use it.

As for "a couple of Midol" vs "a couple Midol," why not simply "quickly swallowed two Midol"?

Ah Mccardey you are right, I was giving my opinion as from the US, so yes it would sure depend on where the person is.

Josephperin, That's fine, but it still sounds wordy to me to say "couple of pills from the Midol bottle". But whatever you want, just be sure it sounds right to you or to where your character is supposed to be.

josephperin said:

I believe I'm going to make it couple of pills from the Mido bottle.

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If I read that in the work of a careful writer, the deliberate avoidance of specifying the pills would make me wonder what she was keeping in her Midol bottle. If they were merely Midols, the careful writer would have just said so; identifying only the bottle suggests that she's hiding something stronger, probably illicit, in there.

Still, sometimes it's good to leave the reader wondering.

my MC is well educated and needs to speak and think correctly.

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Well-educated people use idioms in informal speech. And are not correct 100% of the time.

WWWalt said:

If I read that in the work of a careful writer, the deliberate avoidance of specifying the pills would make me wonder what she was keeping in her Midol bottle. If they were merely Midols, the careful writer would have just said so; identifying only the bottle suggests that she's hiding something stronger, probably illicit, in there.

Still, sometimes it's good to leave the reader wondering.



Well-educated people use idioms in informal speech. And are not correct 100% of the time.

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Putting those comments together gave me a great idea for showing that a character isn't the sharpest: A male character keeps Oxycontin (or something) in a Midol bottle. A copper happens to notice that a guy has Midol and starts to wonder. Or it could be used otherwise, and there several ways it could go.

WWWalt said:

Well-educated people use idioms in informal speech. And are not correct 100% of the time.

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Yep. I always say "Took two Midols," or "Took two Advils" or whatever, as did the other women I knew in grad school and in my professional life. Of course, attempting to avoid all informal or colloquial speech, even inside her head, could be a personality quirk for this particular educated character.

mccardey said:

Depends where you are, of course. In (I dunno - parts of? all of? ) America that would work. In other places, you'd need the "of".

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Re "a couple of Advils." Most people use the "of" in California, so omitting it is probably a regional thing, even in the US.

Why use the brand name at all — why not just say painkillers or use the name of the actual drug, such as ibuprofen? FWIW, I don't know any women who take Midol.

borogove said:

Why use the brand name at all — why not just say painkillers or use the name of the actual drug, such as ibuprofen? FWIW, I don't know any women who take Midol.

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I don't these days either (midol = Tylenol), since ibuprofen works better for cramps. I relied on midol as a teen, though, before ibuprofen was available over the counter. When is the book set?

A lot of people say Advil or Motrin instead of ibuprofen, and most people say Tylenol, not acitimenophin (or however it's spelled). Path of least resistance.

I read a book the other day where the protagonist took two aspirins.

A weird little tidbit... most formulations of Midol and similar contain a pain reliever, an antihistamine, and a diuretic/stimulant (caffeine).
And educated or not, when dealing with uncomfortable things we've been dealing with for years (since before adulthood certainly), it's not uncommon to resort to whatever thinking was taught/learned in the past.

"Couple of pills from the Mido bottle" sounds awkward to me. If you want to get the Midol bottle in there, try something along the lines of "Grabbing the Midol bottle, she swallowed a couple pills." Like that maybe, but better written.