I've become a fan of those TV commercials peddling crap to the uneducated. I love the way they use words to make their crap sound better than what it is. John Allen Paulos makes a few references in his books to old-time hucksters selling sleeping potions while saying things like "this is effective due to its dormitive virtue". While the self-referential is nice, I am a fan of the absurd.

First up, we have those commercials from when I was in high school (this means the mid 80's) where things were "made from a space-age polymer".

Wilbur: "Oooh! That sounds advanced! Let's buy one now."
Ethel: "What the fuck is it?"
Wilbur: "I don't know, but it's made from a space-age polymer!"

OK, a polymer is a chain-like molecule made of repeating instances of the same "building block", without a specific number of those blocks necessary for properties of the substance to hold true. Plastic is the most ubiquitous man-made polymer around us. So, we can redefine the selling-point statement as "spage-age plastic". Last time I checked, the USSR launched Sputnik in 1957 (consult a reputable source like Wikipedia if you don't believe me) and officially began the "space age". Now, we can redefine the huckster double-talk as "plastic from 1957".

Wilbur: "I ain't buying your 1957 plastic bullshit!"
Ethel: "Damn skippy!"

Fast forward to now. I frequently see commercials that pose the question "Do you ever wish you had sonic hearing?" No, fuckhead, I'm quite happy with my olfactory hearing. If I had visual hearing, I could hear how ugly you are. Sign me up for tactile hearing when you have that shit perfected.

Lastly, what is up with that ShamWow guy? The "I just finished an 8-ball of coke by myself" skittishness, the Burger King drive-thru headset, and the Popeye thing just freak me out when all in conjunction like that. He also now sells the "Smack-Chop" food chopper. I would like to see him chop a ShamWow into small bits that would look lovely in a salad. They could soak up the excess salad dressing.