Ever heard someone say, “More than Carter has little pills?”
Here’s the story.
They have more money than Carter has little pills.
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Not even a little bit.
Carter’s Little Liver Pills were well-known because of its advertising.
The pills were marketed in newspapers and on cards as a potential cure-all.
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They were widespread in American households and also found internationally.
Carter’s Little Liver Pills was a medicine billed as something to aid bile flow in the liver.
The Federal Trade Commission made the company remove “liver” from its name.
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The product became Carter’s Little Pills, removing any reference to the liver.
The saying gradually changed after that and became “more than Carter has little pills.”
Carter’s Little Pills Today
And still, the phrase persists.
“Jimmy Carter?”
Only those exposed to the abundance of earlier advertising knew the real story.
It’s a disappearing phrase, but you’ll still hear it occasionally if you listen closely enough.
Most surprising of all?
Carter’s Little Pills are currently offered as a sodium-free laxative, the active ingredient of which is bisacodyl.
Have you ever heard this saying?
Do you still use it daily?
What other phrases make you curious about their hidden histories?
Time.Medicine: cut out the liver.
