Snake oil
Snake oil
Snake oil (/ˈsneɪk ɔɪl/) is a term that originally referred to fraudulent health products or unproven medicine but has come to refer to any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit.
Etymology
The term "snake oil" is derived from the 19th-century American practice of selling cure-all elixirs in traveling medicine shows. Snake oil salesmen would falsely claim that the potions would cure any ailments. Today, it is used metaphorically to refer to products with exaggerated marketing but questionable benefits.
Related Terms
- Quackery: The promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices.
- Pseudoscience: A collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method.
- Placebo: A harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect.
- Charlatan: A person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill; a fraud.
Usage
In modern usage, the term "snake oil" is most often used to describe products or services that are considered ineffective, fraudulent, or deceptive. This can include anything from overpriced product that fails to deliver on its promises, to a service that is marketed as being able to solve problems it cannot.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Snake oil
- Wikipedia's article - Snake oil
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