this is a good Q in the respect that many field electricians are always having to correct homeowners that confuse dimmers with fan speed controllers.
I hear you there!. I've had a rash of these over the last few months, cooked light dimmers all over the place!. One house I went to had a big black explosion mark on the wall around where the dimmer plate was, after the HO tried to dim a twin 5ft T8 Fluorescent fitting, with a 100VA incandescent dimmer. Silly boy!.