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Metaphors Dept.

Jesse Walker | 5.29.2007 9:13 AM

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A man who obsessively disinfected his home has died of excessive exposure to disinfectant. There's a moral in there somewhere.

[Via Fortean Times.]

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Jesse Walker is books editor at Reason and the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

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  1. Baylen   19 years ago

    But he no doubt would have otherwise died of bird flu years ago.

  2. Tom Gellhaus   19 years ago

    But did he get rid of all the aphids ?

    (A Scanner Darkly, first few paragraphs)

  3. XaabaZu   19 years ago

    There's probably a frivolous lawsuit in there too.

  4. too many steves   19 years ago

    Clearly care in the community failed him, as his sister, who wouldn't visit him because the air in his apartment was stifling, points out.

  5. DADIODADDY   19 years ago

    isn't anyone going to mention the large bald man who seen sneaking around this guys house?...a cleaning products conspiracy in the making...

  6. thoreau   19 years ago

    If only House had been on hand to deal with this situation.

  7. M   19 years ago

    Someone's shilling for Big Germs, I just know it.

  8. wsdave   19 years ago

    Hey, at least he was sterile.

  9. Warren   19 years ago

    Metaphors Dept.

    Metaphor? What is this suppose to be a metaphor of? Isn't this a case of actual irony? Unlike 99% of the time irony is invoked.

    So if this is one of the rare cases best describe as irony, described as metaphor, then does that make it sarcasm?

  10. emerson   19 years ago

    It's ironic and metaphorical. Now go worry about something else.

  11. Eric the .5b   19 years ago

    It definitely wasn't lupus.

  12. Grant Gould   19 years ago

    Darned terrorists in our disinfectant!

  13. R C Dean   19 years ago

    I suppose this means that, under the Precautionary Principle, we should be outlawing household disinfectants.

  14. thoreau   19 years ago

    Look, R C, if it saves just one life, that's what matters! OK, so it might claim a bunch of other lives, but it will save just one life!

  15. Other Matt   19 years ago

    I think we should institute an all out effort to ban assault cleaners, which as we all know have that longer trigger to allow for faster discharge, and that little square thing which allows for much more precise squirt placement. Can you imagine if these were in the hands of anyone but highly trained law enforcement individuals? Oh, the humanity, the horror, the children for god's sake!!

    Ok, shutting up now.

  16. eugene   19 years ago

    It's like rain on your wedding day!

  17. Dee   19 years ago

    Definetely need a ban on all household cleaners immediately before it becomes another meth epidemic.

  18. ScottWood   19 years ago

    Don't be ridiculous. We don't need a ban. Just require all Dettol sellers to check purchaser's ID and prevent them from purchasing more than two 16oz bottles a week. Simple.

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