queer as a three dollar bill en · ADJ
Etymology
Since three-dollar bills do not exist.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Synonym of phony as a three-dollar bill.
While shrilly blowing whistles and setting off marine fog horns, they began scattering queer—as in “queer-as-a-three-dollar-bill”—money, phony 100s, 50s and 10s created by the activist artists group Gran Fury, down onto the floor of The Exchange, the backs of the bills reading: FUCK YOUR PROFITEERING. PEOPLE ARE DYING WHILE YOU PLAY BUSINESS. AID$ NOW.
1992, Michael Rumaker, To Kill a Cardinal, [Rocky Mount, N.C.]: Arthur Mann Kaye, →ISBN, page 37:MADDOX / We had a phony doctor come in from Chicago, just as phony and as queer as a three dollar bill.
1990, Dan H. Christian, Inside the J.F.K. Conspiracy, [Santa Barbara, Calif.]: Prevailing Winds Research, →OCLC, page 72:He said the sun was at the wrong angle, that is he said he looked at the picture of the Governor that was one angle of the sun, but the woman had a different angle altogether and that was a fake picture. He said, ‘I could tell as soon as Gaby showed it to me. I let the Chief know too. It’s as queer as a three dollar bill.’
2005, Morton L. Kurland, chapter 29, in Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again, Rancho Mirage, Calif.: Lazy K Press, →ISBN, page 230:
- (not-comparable) Synonym of queer as a clockwork orange.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| queer as a three-dollar bill | alternative | lexicographic |