ESL Vocabulary and Idioms

Re: What does the bold part mean? ..consider the chemical cocktail contained

Anonymous — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:32:55 GMT

Hi Avangi,

Your explanation is very clear and great. Thank you very much.

Re: What does the bold part mean? ..consider the chemical cocktail contained

Avangi — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:02:05 GMT

"In contrast, consider" holds the key. It's the old "compare and contrast" game. "Essential oils" have a long history of safe use by women, in cosmetics. I presume they're considered "natural."

A "coctail" is usually an alcoholic drink in which several ingredients are blended according to a special recipe. I suppose you could say that here it's used as a metaphor for the "artificial" formulations created in the laboratory from potentially harmful ingredients, which are also used on a daily basis by women (and others) in the household. Perhaps the long-term effects of these formulations on humans is not yet known.

- A.

Edit. Didn't mean to imply that coctails are necessarily harmful.

What does the bold part mean? ..consider the chemical cocktail contained

Anonymous — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:21:18 GMT

Hi,

Essential oils have been safely and consistently used by many thousands of women for hundreds of years in the form of perfumes, scented soaps and body lotions. In contrast, consider the chemical cocktail contained in modern cleaning products, air fresheners and the like, that are in common use everyday.

What does the part in bold mean? Thanks.