Historical Events  Brands
Vasoline

Alternate:
Vasoline

Current:
Vaseline

Rhymes with Gasoline

It's been around since 1852, but how exactly is the famous skin healing petroleum jelly spelt? If you thought Vasoline is correct, with an 'o' and not an 'e' as in Vaseline, it might not be a mere false memory - you might be experiencing a Mandela Effect.

It's original name was "Wonder Jelly" and was made as a by-product of the oil from sperm whales. The usual caution to such a long-established brand applies. These companies know full well the value of a name and would never tinker with it without a very good reason - they have invested considerable time and money into them, so the last thing they want is their customers having alternative memories of their brands.

Being very used to saying it in a way which rhymes with Gasoline might have affected the idea it is spelt the same way too, yet this seems odd as it's the kind of thing which stares people in the face each morning as they open their bathroom cabinet.

Rod Wax

The origin of the jelly is interesting. During the oil rush in the mid 1800's, workers found a residue has to be regularly cleared from the pumps - they termed it "rod wax". They noticed it was soothing to the regular cuts and burns they suffered during their everyday manual labours, provided a level of protection and even has some healing properties. Robert Chesebrough went to some fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and took some of this back to Brooklyn for further analysis. After extracting the necessary components, he saw he could market it - and so began the brand Vaseline.

Stone Temple Pilots

There is a popular track from The Stone Temple Pilots which uses the Vasolene spelling, probably to avoid legal issues, but it could be a contributing factor to the spelling confusion.

This is another mandela effect where the prononciation is so similar no matter which way it's spelt that most people don't pay attention to the different letter when remembering it.