"Say What?"

Getting old has advantages. It's like being positioned toward the front of a line of hikers. At any moment you can look forward to the untraveled path, or turn observe the hikers behind you. So forgive us senior citizens if we frequently refer to the past or muse about the future, as in, "I remember when Mother and I went......Hey, is that Ducolax on sale?" We seniors have so much to say we can't shut up. Today, I want to say this:
Words are not underwear. It's not necessary to change them.  Let me illustrate:
At one time in America, if you had a headache, you took a pill. (And while we're on the subject, you didn't tell the whole world you had a headache or that you took a pill.) Then, during an era when we were particularly proud of our medical profession, we began to say, "Wow. I've got a headache. I need some medicine." That word worked for many years, but Americans have a habit of embellishing that which needs no embellishment, so we began referring to our pills as medication. "Grandpa, did you take your medication today?)
People said "medication" for a long time, and some still use the word. It makes you sound sicker than you are, and some folks like that. In some circles, you're cool if you take lots of pills every day, and it's okay to say "pills" if you're describing how many you take. One elderly person I know, let's call her Francine, because that's her name, said to me one day, "You know, I have to take 27 pills a day!" She looked at me, expecting an admiring response. I hadn't been paying that much attention. "So then what happened?" I asked.  Francine hasn't spoken to me since.
But forget all this, because now it's cool to say "Meds."
"Grandpa, did you remember to take your meds?"
"What? the Feds are here? Quick, hide under the bed!"