mugging
n.— «They’re luring (people) in under the guise of a survey.…“Our industry calls that sugging—soliciting under the guise of interviewing. Or mugging—marketing under the guise of interviewing.» —“Study: Not all phone surveys are legitimate” by Kelly Shiers Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia) Nov. 21, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes...
Emily in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is married to a native Dutch speaker, who points out that they buy groceries in a store, so why doesn’t grocery denote just one of those items and not the store where they’re sold? Originally, the French...