It was a fad for a long while when most lay people didn't get the joke to hand out petitions to ban dihydrogen monoxide. Dihyrdrogen monoxide, or DHMO, was found in tumors of terminally ill cancer patients, was shown to be a contributor to the greenhouse effect, and could cause severe burns when in a gaseous state. High school students would often be surveyed to see what their opinions were on this substance and if it should be banned after learning it was often used as an industrial solvent and could be found in most home cleaning products. At one point I believe there was a legitimate movement in California to ban the substance, but I'm not positive.
Of course, if you get the joke, then you are not deeply concerned by the health hazards of DHMO, because dihydrogen monoxide, in the language of chemistry, means two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, H2O or water. Those who the prank has been played on can all have a good laugh about how worried they were when water was presented as some "Chemical" with a sciency sounding acronym. Unfortunatly, some people apparently are still concerned.
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