Snake oil

Today in America, snake oil means rubbish or nonsense, much the same as poppycock. Back in the 1920s, snake oil referred to fake or sham remedies that were sold by 'snake oil salesmen' who were con men selling anything that was fake or sham. Snake oil itself dates back to the 1600s in Britain when liniments or rubs made from viper or adder oil were used for aches and pains, which actually worked. Snake oil dates back even further in Chinese culture, probably hundreds if not thousands of years, when liniments and rubs for aches and pains were made from the Chinese water snake. These also worked, and were brought to America in the early 1800s by Chinese workers who worked on the railroads that were being built across America at that time. From the premise that genuine snake oils, manufactured from old Chinese and British recipes, did actually work, there sprang up in America many fake, sham snake oils, which during the late 19th century finally gave snake oil the negative connotations that it has to this day.