From my Orac (Dr. David Gorski) who is arguably my favorite scientific speaking skeptical blogger.
What’s in a word? “Integrative” versus “alternative” medicine, again
I’ve written a lot about the language issue with respect to alternative medicine. As I like to put it (at least in shortened form), first there was quackery. Quacks did not like that name at all, and thus was born alternative medicine. And the quacks did think it good-for a while.
A great line in the article (the emphasis is mine):
More importantly, it [complementary and alternative medicine] could be sold as the “best of both worlds,” which sounds great until you consider that one world consists of medicine that works and the other world consists largely of magic.