A.Word.A.Day --huckster

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Today's Word

huckster

PRONUNCIATION:

(HUHK-stuhr)

MEANING:

noun: One who sells things of questionable value in an aggressive or dishonest manner.
verb tr.: To sell something of questionable value aggressively or dishonestly.
verb intr.: To haggle.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle Dutch word hokester (peddler), from hoeken (to peddle). Earliest documented use: 1200s.

USAGE:

“Mostly they’re just plain, old-fashioned carnival hucksters, picking the pockets of gullible people they play for rubes.”
Jeff Hester; ‘Miracle’ Work; Astronomy (Milwaukee, Wisconsin); Nov 2018.

See more usage examples of huckster in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. -Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (9 Nov 1934-1996)

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