So what’s with the heartburn? I mean, is it really that your heart is burning?
Well … of course not. My good friend Google revealed in a couple of articles that the acid reflux- a technical name for heartburn- is felt in the area not too far from your heart, and that’s how the name came to life.
Apparently, questions about heartburn puzzled other people too. Chrissy Teigen asked “Can you die of acid reflux?”. The good people of the forum let her down easily by saying no but it can be a sign of pregnancy … to which she reacted “Jesus Christ”.
I found a few jokes on the topic of heartburn:
What do you call a Jewish man with a heartburn? An acidic Jew.
“Doctor, I seem to get a get a heartburn every time I eat a birthday cake”. “Have you tried removing the candles first?”
Words like heartburn are misnomers. According to Wikipedia, a misnomer is a name that is incorrectly applied to a person, place or object. So heartburn is a misnomer because it has nothing to do with heart.
As a non native English speaker, I used to find misnomers challenging. Shortly after I moved to North America, a friend asked “Hey can you pass me a Kleenex?”… A what? Had he said tissue, I would’ve known right away. Instead it involved a lengthy explanation of how beloved brands became adopted as everyday nouns.
But rest assured, for the many heartburns that happen in life- misnomer or otherwise- there has to be a Tums you can take.