I just had a very interesting back and forth with the owner (I assume) of a company that distributes a product promising a "chemical-free" tan.
This was my response:
.@HerbalTanlotion Fact: UV radiation is chemical free. Fact: Your product is not. RAWR!
— Chemical-Free Bear (@ChemFreeBear) February 16, 2014
That was yesterday. Today I got this reply:
@ChemFreeBear Honey you don't make this product, so don't use twitter negligently. It could get you in trouble.
— herbalinstanttan.com (@HerbalTanlotion) February 17, 2014
Which clearly seems like a threat to me, but I was later told (in a now deleted but not forgotten or erased from my screencap tweet) that it was not a threat. It was just slander. Just. I mean slander isn't something I would ever say with the word "just" in front of it. Nothing is ever "just" the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation. But I suspect this entire back and forth comes down to misunderstanding what words really mean.
Take this for example:
@cindynorth1 Apparently Doctors don't know everything. If you knew the meaning of herbal you would know it means all natural, zero chemicals
— herbalinstanttan.com (@HerbalTanlotion) February 17, 2014
She claims that the meaning of the word "herbal" is: "All natural, zero chemicals". When in fact the word "herbal" means: "a collection of descriptions of plants put together for medicinal purposes." Chemicals are all through plants. Any herbal remedy is useful only because of the chemicals that plant contains.
The real hilarity of this whole situation to me is that the product - which claims to be chemical-free - replaces a tanning technique which is 100% chemical-free (for reals!) UV radiation is chemical-free. That doesn't make it healthy, in fact this herbal way of getting a "tan" is likely safer than the UV exposure. But to advertise it as chemical-free is disingenuous. It's not chemical free. It's an herbal approach.
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