brummagem

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 15, 2011 is: brummagem • \BRUM-ih-jum\  • adjective : not genuine : spurious; also : cheaply showy : tawdry Examples: Donald knew better than to pay good money for the brummagem watch that was being falsely advertised as a quality Swiss timepiece. "Just as critics … conceived high culture in some antithetical relationship to 'middlebrow' or 'kitsch,' which imitated the intelligentsia's culture and blurred the distinction between commodity and art, so too, they warned, the spirit of Christianity now had to be preserved from its brummagem versions…." -- From Jason W. Stevens' 2010 book God-Fearing and Free: A Spiritual History of America's Cold War Did you know? "Brummagem" first appeared in the 17th century as an alteration of "Birmingham," the name of a city in England. At that time Birmingham was notorious for the counterfeit coins made there, and the word "brummagem" quickly became associated with things forged or inauthentic. By the 19th century, Birmingham had become a chief manufacturer of cheap trinkets and gilt jewelry, and again the word "brummagem" followed suit -- it came to describe that which is showy on the outside but essentially of low quality. Perhaps the term was something of an annoyance to the people of Birmingham way back when, but nowadays "brummagem" is usually used without any conscious reference to the British city. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.