Tuesday, May 31, 2005

The Pickle of Meaning

I happened to notice my tube of toothpaste has this printed on it:

FOR BEST RESULTS, SQUEEZE TUBE FROM THE BOTTOM AND FLATTEN AS YOU GO UP.

"For best results." Toothpaste is ostensibly for cleaning the teeth. Does that mean if I squeeze from the bottom, the toothpaste will clean my teeth more effectively? No, it just means I'll get more paste out of the tube.

Are the manufacturers admitting here that their toothpaste in fact does nothing? Is toothpaste merely some kind of fetish object?

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