I do not make this up;
I couldn’t even think it:
the label on this cleaner
tells me not to drink it.
How stupid do I look?
What nonsense, base and utter.
Like warning there are peanuts
in a thing called peanut butter.
I shake my head and ponder
how the planet can be greener
if we leave it to be governed
by those who might drink cleaner.
Really, dear reader, I try not to beat that poor dead horse and say “when I was a kid,” but sometimes I can’t help it. My generation has to bear some of the responsibility for this, but I staunchly maintain that we didn’t have to be told not to drink cleaners or that there were peanuts in peanut butter. Could it be that ours was the superior intellect? (Honestly, I am not a Trekkie, but some of those lines are eternally quotable!)
With thanks to the cult of Khan
and his wrath, of course.
Oddments 
March 25, 2023 at 2:31 pm
Put that bottle of Mr. Clean down, Maureen!
I grew up in Pittsburgh, the birthplace of Mr. Yuk. I was 16 when our poison control center started printing those stickers and they were handing them out all over the place. I remember my father laughing and asking me if he needed to put them on anything. It’s amazing we made it out of childhood. Then again, the number of medical concoctions that list “possible death” as a side effect are beginning to worry me.
March 25, 2023 at 2:48 pm
I don’t even remember Mr. Yuk! But I love your story! Seems to me that “possible death” is a side effect of life. Yes, how did we survive growing up? And, yes, thank you, I had finished my coffee before I read your first line.
March 25, 2023 at 3:52 pm
🙂
I’m not sure when Mr Yuk went national. He was created in 1971 in Pittsburgh. I remember mentioning him years later in other states, and having people look at me as if I had just made it u;p.
March 25, 2023 at 4:05 pm
I think that, if my sons had known about Mr. Yuk when they were a bit older, they’d have put him on my cooking.
March 25, 2023 at 4:47 pm
Hahaha – OK, you got me back. I just choked my coffee up my nose.
March 25, 2023 at 5:02 pm
Oooh. That’s very inconvenient!
March 25, 2023 at 3:09 pm
Maureen, I guess they’re covering their bases (I would’ve used another word but this is a family blog!) The labels/ads for medications come with more warnings than there are words in the dictionary! DO NOT TAKE IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO ANY INGREDIENT IN THIS MEDICATION. How would we know? Can’t pronounce the names. Sure can’t spell any of them. I doubt our pharmacists know what a lot of this stuff is. “Possible death” should not be a side effect of any medication!
We take these medications to better our lives, even save our lives, but we jeopardize our lives at the same time.
I don’t know how many folks have drunk cleaning solutions, but I imagine some adventurous soul (idiot) somewhere has eaten shoe polish or worse.
Yet, with all these warnings, adults leave this stuff where children can readily access it. It boggles my mind…or what’s left of it. (&.#/@£}§€<)
This gives me a headache. Maybe I should take a Tylenol….or not!
Ginger
March 25, 2023 at 3:24 pm
And that is what gets me every time, too–‘do not take if you are allergic to this medication.’ How do I know? I’ve not taken it yet! Can you imagine the litigation: “Well, we warned you!” “Yes, but…!” “Case closed. You were warned!” It’s ridiculous.
Put down the Tylenol bottle and back away, Ginger!
March 25, 2023 at 3:28 pm
I’m okay. I’m okay. I backed away Lois. Wow, that was a close call!
Ginger
March 25, 2023 at 4:04 pm
To quote myself, these comments need to come with a warning!
March 25, 2023 at 3:45 pm
Amen. How do we know if we’re allergic to everything in the med? Well, we take it, and if we don’t break out in hives or keel over, or start to grow antennae, then it’s safe. Once again I am glad I had finished my coffee. Comments should come with a warning!
March 25, 2023 at 3:41 pm
I am sorry to be the cause of your headache! But the headache is a logical effect of all this. As for children getting their hands on things, well, as you point out, it’s a family blog. Try chocolate for a headache?
March 25, 2023 at 4:12 pm
Maureen, I’m way ahead of you. Chocolate is my “go to” for anything. Amazing curative powers, don’cha think?🤗. Well, maybe not so much for cavities! 🥴
Ginger
March 25, 2023 at 5:01 pm
Think of the dentists we’ve supported!
March 26, 2023 at 10:39 am
I LOVE this! YES, when we were kids we wouldn’t have thought of drinking a cleaner or anything else that wasn’t meant for food consumption, and we would have known that coffee is hot. Were we smarter? I don’t know, but we did follow direction better, and there weren’t so many lawyers willing to take on a case for zero down and the theory of let’s see if we throw it against the wall and see if it will stick. There also weren’t judges and juries that would lean to the side of a person spilling hot coffee and not knowing it was hot. Now, that I know is stupid. 🙂 Before I take a prescribed medicine, I look up what it conflicts with that I have or take. Every time I find a conflict and go in to talk to the pharmacist, they just smile and say that it’s no problem. Well, if it’s no problem, why is it listed as a problem. This brings me around to allergy warnings (or lack of) on our food products here in the US. Instead of ‘really’ telling us, they slap a generic ‘could contain or may have been processed’ and list every allergy around. Shame on our food industry for being so lazy and thereby limiting food products for those living with allergies which seems to climb every year. Okay, I’m done ranting. 🙂 Happy Sunday, Maureen, and I love this post. Now, I’m going to go get a drink of water from my garden hose. 🙂
March 26, 2023 at 11:47 am
Thank you for all laughs! This whole matter isn’t laughable, but the rants can be. We have to rant so we won’t explode, and rants can be ever so therapeutic. I too have been perplexed when I get mixed messages about side effects. We read labels that don’t make sense — what’s a body to do? I like your take on it: get a drink out of the garden hose! And I have clear memories of how good that water was! A little rubbery in flavor, perhaps, but nice and cold! Happy Sunday to you too, Judy! I read nothing good about the weather your way and I hope it will ease up soon!
April 4, 2023 at 4:46 pm
I used to know someone who wrote such text. He was quite… unusual. It is a side effect of our litigious culture. We ought not to be able to sue for having done something evidently stupid. Could we sue, do you suppose, for having drunk if not able to read?
April 4, 2023 at 8:49 pm
Of course! But it brings up the legal concept of contributory negligence. Do I sue myself for being stupid? As for writing such text, I cannot imagine the strain on the brain.