# What is "Doctor Good?" (Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2008, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058 "2008-04-05T08:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/21 "2008-04-08T15:59:08Z")
What about FungusOil? I hear it can cure skin eruptions, chronic cough, painful urination, vaginal discharge, earaches and rotten teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/22 "2008-04-09T03:29:16Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] But this is still not at all true. Snake oil salesmen were notorious for claiming that literally dozens of ailments could be cured, and as the Lydia Pinkham ad showed they could be either specific or general complaints. When one says that a dozen totally unrelated problems can be cured by one magic elixir, that’s not “specific” except in the oddest of meanings. Herbal cures today make claims in exactly the same way, some extremely specific, as in homeopathy, and some broadly general, and many both at once. If you can somehow manage to believe that they can’t say something specific today, you’ve never typed herbal cancer cures into Google. Do a bit of research into your claims before you make them. [/QUOTE] We’re just not communicating here, **Exapno**. Let me take one particular example out of what I said and see if you can agree with it, and then we’ll work from there: Snake oil salesmen often said that their elixirs could cure diseases like cancer. Is it not illegal today to make that claim without data to back it up? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/23 "2008-04-09T07:55:56Z")
If you travel in the developing world, you’ll discover that these things have not died out. It’s fairly common for people to come on long distance bus rides and spend the entire time extolling the virtues of whatever cure-all they are selling. A favorite tactic is to pass around graphic pictures of STDs and then claim you can cure them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/24 "2008-04-09T14:53:02Z")
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat] We’re just not communicating here, **Exapno**. Let me take one particular example out of what I said and see if you can agree with it, and then we’ll work from there: Snake oil salesmen often said that their elixirs could cure diseases like cancer. Is it not illegal today to make that claim without data to back it up? [/QUOTE] You’re shifting the claim. Your exact words were “the claims are different. Today, the claims are vague and ambiguous” and “Now, they can’t say that.” But they do say that. Specifically. Often. Are they making an illegal claim? Well, fan my brow and shut my dropped jaw. Quacks preying on the gullible public making an illegal claim. What will they ever think of next? That never happened in the Good Old Days. I keep saying that nothing has changed. You keep saying something has changed. Could you try to provide some evidence to back up that claim? If your only defense is that it’s now illegal to make false claims about specific cures, my only response will continue to be, the claims are out there. In enormous numbers. Nothing has changed. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/25 "2008-04-09T15:05:34Z")
In the modern lyrics to the song, she just keeps repeating “Head-On, apply directly to the forehead!” over and over. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/26 "2008-04-09T18:15:13Z")
But in defense of **InvisibleWombat** , false advertising is indeed against the law, and yet, very few of these liars are brought to justice. Recently a well advertised medical product or service (that I can’t call) was hauled into court and found guilty of false claims, faking data, etc. But so many of the rest go unooposed. How about [freecreditreport.com](http://freecreditreport.com) which, as we all know, isn’t free but is humming merrily along using that name, but if we complain of it here, the sophiticates will argue, “Oh, get a life,” or “Aw c’mon, so what?” and so on. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/27 "2008-04-09T18:17:51Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] How is snake oil any different from the herbal crap sold all over the internet today? [/QUOTE] No snake was harmed or put in danger in the production of these herbs. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058/28 "2008-04-09T18:24:02Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] Recently a well advertised medical product or service (that I can’t call) was hauled into court and found guilty of false claims, faking data, etc. But so many of the rest go unooposed. [/QUOTE] Was that Kevin Trudeau, with his Coral Calcium cancer cure? I know he was banned from doing any infomercials for it ever again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-doctor-good-gypsys-tramps-and-thieves/444058.md?page=1)