pejoration of "stuff?"

[Michael Quinion]

> My friend Rowyn McDonald and I were sitting in a cafe yesterday when we saw
> the a bag of Kettle Chips (potato chips) that said "No Stuff" on the
> package, clearly meant as an advertisement.  Sure enough, when we looked at
> the back, there was a little bit of explanation, something to the effect of
> "No Stuff: No Trans Fats, No Artificial Flavors, Etc."

As a parallel statement, one of my subscribers found a sign in a British
supermarket over a shelf of foodstuffs described as "free from foods". (A
pic is at http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/fykg.htm#N5).


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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