Why do we call it aspirin instead of acetylsalicylic acid? It's familiar, easy to spell, and easy to remember. It's an accident of history. What would be accomplished by renaming it?

Most people in the world don't call it Aspirin, as that's a registered trademark of Bayer AG. The trademark was voided in the U.S. during WWI and never re-granted.

Here in Canada, we call it ASA.

Umm.. what?

Bayer holds the trademark for Aspirin (Capital A) in Canada (and others). The trademark is void in the US (and others)

When Canadians that I know (incluidng me) say "aspirin" we mean very deliberately "Any kind of ASA - and if it's not the generic stuff you're some kind of weirdo who likes to waste money" - but we still call it aspirin. Brand names don't, of course - they list ASA as an ingredient... but I've never in my life heard someone ask if I had any ASA.

Different experiences. The first time I had someone ask me for some, I was confused: I didn't know what it was (I had just immigrated from the US). But I've had more than a few people refer to it as ASA in the thirteen years I've been here.

That's interesting to know, but the point still stands. ASA is familiar, easy to spell, and easy to remember.