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A.Word.A.Day--brummagem

Pronunciation Sound Clip

This week's theme: Toponyms

brummagem (BRUM-uh-juhm)

adjective: Cheap and showy.
noun: Something that is counterfeit or of inferior quality.

[After Brummagem, a dialectal form of Birmingham, UK, where counterfeit coins were produced in the 17th century. Brummie is a nickname for someone from Birmingham.]

"[My parents were] obsessed with their material possessions, investing them with moral righteousness: no synthetics, no veneer, no brummagem, nothing mass-produced or as seen on TV."
Katherine A. Powers; When Things Are in the Saddle; Boston Globe; Nov 19, 2006.

See more usage examples of brummagem in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

X-Bonus

Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you're not really interested in order to get where you're going. -Christopher Morley, writer (1890-1957)

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