Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Synergistic Lemons

"The synergistic action of the botanical lemon complex serves as a protective barrier against atmospheric pollutants." The scary thing is, I have memorized this phrase. Every morning, when I take a shower, my wife's conditioner is right in front of my face, and the advertising blurb on the back always jumps out at me. And since I am only half awake, my brain always goes through the same questions. What are the lemons synergizing with? The only lemons I have ever seen on trees don't seem to be active enough to get any synergy. Maybe it's the lemon juice that is synergizing?

I'm glad to hear that they are using a botanical lemon complex. Heaven forbid if they were to use any non-botanical lemons. I bet that other shampoo companies and lemonade companies use those terrible non-botanical lemons. Are they cyborg lemons? Wait - maybe I'm misunderstanding those brilliant shampoo technical writers (is that a career?). Maybe they mean that their lemons were grown in a botanical park, like Foster Botanical Gardens in Honolulu. Everyone else's lemons come from pathetic lemon orchards.

And why is it a lemon complex? Is this like the military-industrial complex that Truman (or was it Eisenhower) warned us about? Should I be concerned about an arms race in my wife's hair? Or are we talking about a Freudian complex, in which case I should have more serious concerns about my wife's hair?

I'm glad to hear that the shampoo makers have finally found a way to protect us from pollution. This conditioner, I'm sure, will protect your hair from carbon monoxide, chlorofluorocarbons, asbestos fibers, sulfur emissions, dioxin, and bad breath. And because those shampoo makers are so careful, I am sure that they have thoroughly tested their claims using rigorous laboratory experiments (but they didn't test them on animals, I am happy to see on the label).

Clearly, the shampoo makers are on to a solution to global warming and that nasty hole in the ozone layer. All we have to do is smear a thick layer of my wife's hair conditioner over everything on earth, and then we won't need to worry about how much we pollute. The only problem is that my wife's conditioner bottle is getting low, and I don't know if Costco is still carrying this brand.

One final shampoo thought, and then I am done with my rant. If I ever start a shampoo company, it will have no lemon complex, botanical or otherwise. More importantly, it will be called "oodways shampoo." If you turn the bottle upside down, it will still read "oodways shampoo," if you're using a font where the y looks like an upside-down h. Go ahead, turn your screen upside down to test it. Don't tell me you're not impressed.

5 comments:

  1. PALINDROMES - arent they great! I always thought Star Trek should have had a race called the palindromes. A Paladin class of people that were first identified on the French river Drome. Of course everything they spoke would be the same if spoken backwards, and the Beatles would have hired them to polish up their lyrics so their back maskings would have equilibrium. Oh this is good...what if they dropped the "drome" to cause disillusion, and they made it into public office, with only 1 goal, 100% double talk. I think we have seen the first of its kind, named Sarah. Oooooo.

    K-dub

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh does Nancy Pelosi have a PR person named Sarah??? Ha ha...

    Love the Random Smattering Dr. Manning. BTW, I was impressed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG. I also have that phrase memorized. I just did a search for it and found one hit -- this blog. My wife always says I'm crazy for reciting that phrases, but now she knows I'm not the only one ;-)

    You made my day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Marco,

    I'm glad I found someone else who was driven crazy by the same advertising blurb! My wife recently switchted conditioners, so I am no longer tormented by the synergistic lemons. I feel a sense of loss.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Have you ever noticed that our favorite phrase can be sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne?

    Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.