phoney
n.— «Phoney—same. [stiff—worker who makes mistakes.]» —“Metallic Lathers’ Union of New York and vicinity, Local 46 of the Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers International Union, 75th St. and Third Ave.” by Hatch Lexicon of Trade Jargon , 1938-39. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
A young caller from the Hudson Valley of New York wonders about his grandmother’s use of stemwinder to praise a speech she thought was excellent. In the early 1800s, people used pocket watches that had to be wound with a tiny key. Once someone...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...