[Ads-l] Ban or no ban?

[Laurence Horn]

> On Feb 1, 2017, at 11:28 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The first I heard of this was in the recent Panera Bread commercials
> promising "clean food."
> 
> I thought at first they were insinuating that other restaurants served
> unclean food - either with dirt in it or in some religious sense.
> 
> JL

I’d guess in Panera’s case it’s implied to be free of unwanted adulterants (or are all adulterants unwanted?).  OED’s 2a under “clean” is

2. a. Free from any defiling or deteriorating ingredient; unmixed with foreign matter, pure, unadulterated. Now commonly expressed by pure, except when the contaminating ingredient is ‘dirt’; as in ‘pure’ or ‘clean water’; _clean air_, unpolluted atmosphere

I think it’s that class of potential polluting/defiling ingredients that’s claimed to be absent.  “Pure” would be another option.  I think “healthy" is something else, describing not the food itself but its effect on the consumer.  But as for “clean sleep” I’m not sure. Absence of wake-ups at 3a.m.?  Absence of dirty dreams?  I expect Gwyneth *isn’t* using it in the more literal sense that http://cleansleep.com/ has in mind ("Clean Sleep will take care of that accident on your guestroom mattress with minimal downtime”).

LH 

> 
> On Wed, Feb 1, 2017 at 10:45 AM, Theresa Fisher <fisher.theresa at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Hi – I'm a reporter writing an article on the Gwyneth Paltrow-endorsed
>> "clean
>> sleep" trend
>> <http://www.refinery29.uk/2017/01/137104/clean-sleeping-
>> trend-gwyneth-paltrow>,
>> and I'm trying to figure out when people started describing good-for-you
>> behavior (a raw-food diet, for example) as "clean" rather than plain old
>> "healthy." If anyone has thoughts on the rise of "clean," used in this way,
>> I'd love to hear/read them! Thanks.
>> 
>> On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 6:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Ban or no ban?
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -------------------
>>> 
>>> https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/confused-confused-sean-
>>> spicer-grilled-192253388.html
>>> 
>>> JL
>>> 
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> Theresa Fisher
>> fisher.theresa at gmail.com
>> 914 500 3434
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org