Many of the foods you eat, such as oranges, green apples, and rhubarb, taste sour due to the acids which they form. Many cleaners have acids in them. It is important that you read the warning labels on your household cleaners as we do not advise that you use acidic solutions to clean water pipes in your home. Bases are generally slippery and taste bitter. The scales of fish are coated with a base that makes them slippery.
Soaps are also bases, and naturally are quite slippery.
When you squeeze lemon on your fish before eating it, what you are actually doing is neutralizing the basic, bitter taste with an acid, thus making it more palatable. You may have also experienced this acid-base neutralization reaction if you have ever drank orange juice after brushing your teeth. One advantage to using bases as cleaners is that they do not react with metals. Many common fluids are acids or bases, yet they do not harm us. Be advised that either an acid or a base, if too strong, can cause serious injury.