phony as a three-dollar bill en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Since three-dollar bills do not exist. The Kirtland Safety Society Anti-Banking Co. in Ohio did issue unofficial three-dollar bills during a banking crisis but they were never legitimate.
Meanings
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(not-comparable, qualifier:simile; set phrase; simile; set phrase) Extremely phony; fake; dishonest; completely bogus.
Though the film has some handsome, carefully staged action sequences, its machismo seems as phony as a three‐dollar bill.
1978 July 2, Vincent Canby, “Film View”, in New York Times, retrieved 23 Jan 2018:But this chart, originally created by the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, is as phony as a three-dollar bill. Our friends at PolitiFact did a pretty thorough takedown of it in May, giving it their worst rating: “pants on fire.”
2011 September 29, Glenn Kessler, “The Fact Checker: A bogus chart on Obama and the debt gets a new lease on life”, in Washington Post, retrieved 23 Jan 2018:"You know, Mr. Sunshine, your laid-back, look-at-the-bright-side, the-glass-is-half-full malarkey is starting to come across as very condescending, especially since I know that your life-is-just-a-bowl-of-cherries spiel is as phony as a three-dollar bill."
2012, Joan Elliott Pickart, The Marrying MacAllister, →ISBN:
Relateds
Synonyms
queer as a three dollar bill · fake as a two-dollar bill
Translations (7)
es más falso que un duro de madera (Translations) · de so falsch wie ein falscher Fuffziger (Translations) · fr être faux comme un jeton (Translations) · de so falsch wie ein falscher Fünfziger (Translations) · es más falso que Judas (Translations) · es más falso que un duro sevillano (Translations) · fi kiero kuin korkkiruuvi (Translations)