Reader Misch was shopping at Crate & Barrel and noticed something kind of weird on a vegetable steamer display. “They use the phrase ‘microwave safe’…” he writes. “I do not think that phrase means what they think it means.” No, stainless steel is many things, but microwave safe isn’t one of them. So what’s going on here?

The key to this mystery, of course, is in the first line of the sign, where it says “Silicone and nylon.” That doesn’t mean “silicone and nylon in addition to the main component, which is obviously stainless steel.”

It means exactly what it says, because it refers to a different product entirely. This product, to be precise.

That’s why you should take your safety instructions from the tag on the actual item that you buy, and not from the shelf tag.

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