Snake oil

Snake oil is a Traditional Chinese medicine used for joint pain. However, the most common usage of the words is as derogatory term for medicines to imply that they are fake, fraudulent, and usually ineffective. The expression is also applied metaphorically to any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality — such as bogus cryptography (see fraud in cryptography).

Related Topics:
Traditional Chinese medicine - Metaphorically - Marketing - Cryptography - Fraud in cryptography

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Snake Oil and Holy Water is also the title of a well-known essay by Richard Dawkins attacking the convergence of science and religion, and Snake Oil is the title of a book by John Diamond attacking alternative medicine.

Related Topics:
Richard Dawkins - John Diamond - Alternative medicine

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