the.com/phony
someone selling a self they didn't buy either.
means a person or thing that fakes authenticity, pretending to be genuine when it isn't.
from likely from forney, old slang for a gilt ring used by street con artists to fake finding a valuable ring and split the fake profits with a mark; by the 1920s americans had clipped and softened it into phony.
holden's wordcatcher in the rye uses phony 44 times.
rhymes withbaloney, another word for fake goods.
not phoneyamerican spelling dropped the extra e.
for instance
the phony war — 1939-40, six months of ww2 with almost no fighting.
milli vanilli — 1990 grammy revoked after lip-sync scandal exposed.
holden caulfield — catcher in the rye narrator obsessed with spotting phonies.