Folk Medicine – Milpitas, California

Nationality: American
Age: 47
Occupation: Engineer
Residence: Milpitas, CA
Performance Date: April 26, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: German, French

Cure for Hiccups

To cure hiccups take a heaping spoonful of sugar.

The informant was not sure why this particular cure works, but it was passed on to her from her mother, and has, additionally, been passed on to me.  All of us claim that this remedy really works.

I’ve found that this remedy does in fact work for me, but I don’t know why.  There are many cures for hiccups, but I suppose maybe this one is circulating in my family because, not only does it actually work as a sweet solution, but Mary Poppins is a classic childhood film in my family.  I always remember watching it and loving the song about sugar helping the medicine go down.  So perhaps, this idea as sugar being equated with medicine was adapted into my family as a hiccup remedy, though I’m not quite sure.