www.alphadictionary.com

Posted: **Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:55 am**

According to the American Heritage Dictionary:

snake oil
NOUN: 1. A worthless preparation fraudulently peddled as a cure for many ills. 2. Speech or writing intended to deceive; humbug.

I've associated this with the American Old West, but perhaps the second definition originated in the really old, old west...

Spell May Comprise Oldest Semitic Text

...
Believing that some snakes spoke the Semitic language of the Canaanites, Egyptians included the magic spells in inscriptions on two sides of the sarcophagus in an effort to ward them off.

"Come, come to my house," reads one section in the Semitic language that is supposed to be the snake's mother speaking, trying to lure him out of the tomb. In another passage, the snake is addressed as if he is a lover with "Turn aside, O my beloved."

...

The text includes words that have the same meaning as in Hebrew, like "yad" for hand, "ari" for lion, and "beit" for house, he said.

-gailr
Hmmm, did JK Rowling mine even the KMT for her snake charmers?

Posted: **Fri Jan 26, 2007 1:41 am**

2. Speech or writing intended to deceive; humbug.

well I've sure heard a lot of this lately, all those hats tossed, and so much bull shipped.

mark paying-more-attention-lately Bailey

Posted: **Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:53 pm**

Gailr, it's a word I've also typically associated with the west, or at least, the latter half of the 19th century in the U.S...

I am no snakeoil salesman. I couldn't sell water to a man dieing of thirst in the desert.

Posted: **Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:47 pm**

Actually, I'm pretty good at sales,
*Maybe I should buy myself a plaid suit a flashy older boat-of-a-car, get out of the cubby hole and get rich...*

mark just-ruminating Bailey

Posted: **Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:27 pm**

And yet here we are, partakers of Silicon Snake Oil.

Posted: **Sat Jan 27, 2007 4:31 pm**

...
I am no snakeoil salesman. I couldn't sell water to a man dieing of thirst in the desert.

But could you sell him a tie?