My soldiers say really awful ‘science facts’ from time to time. More often than not, it comes from these shitty infographics on Facebook.
How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways…
- These all the same thing: “Spot buster”, “Stain remover”, “Removes stains”, “Glass cleaner”, “Toilet cleaner”
- Plausible, citation would be helpful: “Sore throat soother”,”Food preservative”, “Fingernail brightener”, “Dry mouth cure”, “Hair highlighter”
- Doubtful, citation needed: “Dandruff”, “Lighten age spots and freckles”, “Metabolism booster”, “Hiccups”,
- Misleading or Untrue:
“Insect Deterrent” (There are insects that love lemons, and some species of ants that feed off of those bugs waste.) “Deodorant / odor destroyer” (Plausible / acceptable: scent masking, flavoring, etc.) - Dangerous to be telling people, especially in lieu of medical advice: “morning sickness”, “breast cancer (!)”, “sinusitis”, “warts”, “kidney care (?)”
But the #1 thing I have to ask is…
Why are there so many *limes* in the infographic about lemon juice?
Limes are very different from lemons. Limes do not grow on lemon trees. Premature lemons have a greenish tint, it’s not the royal lime green pictured there, and farmers don’t generally ship premature lemons.
Interestingly, limes do not float in water, but lemons do.
Limes have amazing medicinal properties, but lemons do not.
I find that arguing with these types of ‘facts’ just introduces more of them. Perhaps a simple counter infographic should be the standard operating procedure.
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Pierce R. Butler
January 27, 2013 at 11:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Just old-fashioned sour grapes!
sqlrob
January 27, 2013 at 1:33 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Honey and Lemon juice is an old home remedy. Dunno if there’s been any study on effectiveness.
This should probably be under misleading. Citric Acid is a preservative, but I don’t know that lemon juice would have enough.
thebookofdave
January 28, 2013 at 3:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
When life gives you lemons, then you have packets of liquid gold that will improve almost any recipe. You can even use one or two for household cleaning. But you don’t have to make shit up to hype them. You don’t even have to order them from the rawbeauty online store. You can go straight to your local commissary, and enjoy the benefits for less than 50¢ a pound!
So my counterinfographic would still be pro-lemon. But it would list entrees, dressings and sauces enhanced by lemony flavor. It would show how to scrub that lingering fish odor from the cutting board, and make a decent wood polish. And make awesome lemonade (duh)!
rowanvt
January 28, 2013 at 12:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I do use the concentrated ‘lemon juice’ that you can buy at stores to lighten my hair. It’s a fairly mousy brown most of the time as I spend the vast majority of my days inside in part due to my job, and in part to the fact that if I’m out in the sun for 5 minutes my skin tries to spontaneously combust. That my favorite outdoor activity is hiking in the local redwood groves does not help with the lack-of-exposure-to-sunlight.
So to use the lemon juice I absolutely soak my hair with the lemon juice, sit outside in the sun until my hair is dry (usually an hour), then go rinse it out in the shower. Usually only have to do this twice and my hair develops some nice shiny coppery glints to it.
Just an anecdote, but yeah. You can’t use straight lemon juice squeezed fresh from lemons. It’s not acidic enough to do the lightening.
flek
January 29, 2013 at 2:10 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
My guess is that the lime image was a free stock photo and they couldn’t be bothered to make them yellow in Photoshop. But hey, if it takes more than five minutes to put together it must be too much work.
timberwoof
January 29, 2013 at 4:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The biggest thing wrong with the list is the complete lack of parallelism. The items in the list are of different types: Some are verb phrases; some are nouns that describe benefits; some are nouns that describe problems.
Lemons are …
Food preservative
Toilet cleaner
Dandruff
Breast cancer
Yah. Right.
robster
February 13, 2013 at 9:40 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ve known people who while thinking they’d purchased a used car had in fact got themselves a lemon. There must be something in that…
Lorax
February 18, 2013 at 8:25 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Comment submitted:
rea: kidney care. Citric acid helps prevent the formation of kidney stones, at least those made by calcium oxolate. The citrate binds to the calcium to help prevent new stones from forming. Most important is the increased water intake.
Alverant
February 19, 2013 at 5:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There’s this South American fish dish that I can’t spell uses the acid from limes and lemons to cook the food. So I guess “oven” should be listed.
PatrickG
February 28, 2013 at 11:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Um, rowanvt, have you possibly discovered a new use for lemons?
Postulating that lemon juice leaks from your hair onto your skin… obviously, lemons are sunscreen as well!