From the Italian montambanco (quack who mounts a bench to hawk his wares) contracted from 'Monta in banco' (mount on bench). According to the character John Bull 'there is no nothing so impossible in Nature but mountebanks will undertake; nothing so incredible but they will affirm'.
Reminds me of the modern day beauty companies. How do they get away with their claims? Check the small print and it will say a study of 20 women confirmed...
The latest lark is caviar face cream with a price tag of £300. According to the beauty editors it does work (a bit) and (how marvellous) doesn't smell fishy (surely that's a basic requirement not a bonus?).
Only thing is it is perfectly possible to produce the same stuff with an RRP of £6.99. Available from a well known German owned budget store.
Are you allowing yourself to be fooled by this mountebank, this harlequin? Do you cringe before a religion compounded of clouds and moonbeams.
Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992
I love my wrinkles too much to ever put fish eggs on them. :D Great look at the other, not-so-nice side of the Magician.
ReplyDeleteMe too. The fish keep their eggs and I keep my wrinkles. Happier in my own skin now than I ever was as teenager.
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