The cult that inspired “drink the Kool-Aid” didn’t actually drink Kool-Aid

You’ve probably heard someone say “drinking the Kool-Aid” — and maybe you’ve said it yourself. But it’s not just callous — it’s inaccurate, too.

The phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” refers to the 1978 Jonestown massacre, in which more than 900 people committed mass suicide by drinking a flavored drink mixed with Valium, chloral hydrate, cyanide, and Phenergan. Kool-Aid’s association with Jonestown has turned into a common meme and saying:

The surprising thing is that all the sources on the massacre say the powder was the grape variety of another drink brand, Flavor Aid. Made by Jel-Sert, Flavor Aid appeared in one of the first newspaper reports on the massacre. The claim is repeated in the 1982 book Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. And surviving witnesses said that Flavor Aid was the drink used, not Kool-Aid.

With the evidence so clear, why did the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid” emerge? Mental Floss suggests Kool-Aid’s role as being a genericized name for all flavored drinks, the popularity of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and other factors made it easier to remember “Kool-Aid” than “Flavor Aid.”

Many of the strongest arguments to abandon the phrase come from San Diego State University’s Jonestown Institute, including:

Maybe you think enough time has passed since the massacre that sensitivity shouldn’t be an issue. Even then, there’s another reason to avoid saying “drinking the Kool-Aid”: it’s just not accurate.