Fake (pronounced feyk)
(1) To
prepare or make something specious, deceptive, or fraudulent.
(2) To
conceal the defects of or make appear more attractive, interesting, valuable
etc, usually in an attempt to deceive.
(3) To
pretend; simulate; emulate.
(4) To
accomplish by trial and error or by improvising:
(5) To
trick or deceive.
(6) In jazz
music, to improvise (non pejorative).
(7) To
play music without reading from a score (usually non pejorative).
(8) Anything
made to appear otherwise than it actually is; counterfeit.
(9) A
person who fakes; faker.
(10) To
lay (a rope) in a coil or series of long loops so as to allow to run freely
without fouling or kinking (often followed by down).
(11) Any
complete turn of a rope that has been faked down; any of the various ways in
which a rope may be faked down.
(12) In
German, a male given name.
1350–1400:
From the Middle English faken (to
coil a rope) of unknown origin. The
nautical adoption fake (one of the windings of a cable or hawser in a coil) was
from the Swedish veck (a fold) and
probably entered English from exchanges between English and Scandinavian
sailors. The more familiar modern
meaning is documented from 1775 as an adjective meaning “to counterfeit”. It’s attested from 1812 as vagrants' slang
meaning “to do for, rob or kill someone” but was also, in an echo of the
earlier form, used to mean “shape something”.
It’s thought to have been either (1) a variant of the obsolete feak & feague (to beat), akin to Dutch veeg
(a slap) & vegen (to sweep, wipe)
or (2), a part of the Lingua Franca via Polari from the Italian facciare (to make or do).
It’s
documented from 1851 as a noun (a swindle) and from 1888 was applied to a
person (a swindler), but most etymologists assume the oral use was older. The most likely source is thought to have been
feague (to spruce up by artificial
means), from the German fegen (polish,
sweep) which, in colloquial use was used to mean "to clear out, to plunder". In English, much of the early slang of thieves
is from German or Dutch sources, dating from that great linguistic melting pot,
the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and until the nineteenth century, was largely
un-documented although the fragmentary evidence available does suggest use was
constantly shifting. While
preparations were being made for the first Nuremberg Trial (1945-1946), the
defendants had been interviewed by a number of specialists including a
psychologist who, among a battery of tests, included relatively simple mental
arithmetic and one who might have been expected to display great proficiency
with numbers was confessed Freemason Horace Greeley Hjalmar Schacht (1877–1970; president of the
Reichsbank 1923-1930 & 1933-1939, general plenipotentiary for war economy
1935–1937 and reichsminister without portfolio 1937-1943). However, the tester was “amazed at Schacht’s inability to do mental
arithmetic; he had expected great things from a financial wizard.” This Schacht explained as a virtue rather
than an inadequacy, claiming: “Any financial wizard who is good at arithmetic is probably
a swindler.” Schacht was acquitted by the IMT (International Military Tribunal) thought that didn't stop the German courts subsequently sentencing him to eight years in prison (essentially on the basis of "being a Nazi"). On appeal, he was released in 1948.
Fake
news (journalism deliberately misleading), although popularized in
the 2016 US presidential campaign (and following the lead of Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025) subsequently applied used by just about anyone to describe any source of which they disapprove), was actually first attested in 1894 although, as a device, fake
news is probably about as old as news itself.
Faker as an agent noun from faker the verb is from 1846 and the noun fakement
(forgery) is from 1811. To “fake
(someone) out” is a description of applied gamesmanship in sport and noted from
1941. To jazz musicians, “to fake” was
merely oral slang for improvising and the “fake book” is attested from 1951. Interestingly, the adjective "jivey" was
sometimes used as a pejorative (phony, fake) unlike "jive" which, in a musical context, was always
purely descriptive. Fake is
a noun & verb, faker & fakery are nouns and the verbs (used with
object) are faked, faking; the noun plural is fakes. Synonyms include ersatz, fake, false,
imitation, imitative, unreal, counterfeit, fabricated, factitious, spurious,
substitute, affected, contrived, feigned, insincere, plastic, synthetic,
unnatural, bogus, affected, forged, fraudulent, mock, phony, spurious,
deception, forgery, hoax, scam, sham, trick, put on, assumed, fraud, impostor,
quack, charlatan, deceiver, substitute, contrived, feigned, insincere, plastic,
unnatural
Faux (pronounced foh)
Artificial
or imitation.
1676:
from the twelfth century French faux (feminine
singular fausse, masculine plural faux, feminine plural fausses), from the Old French fals, from the Latin falsus (false), perfect passive
participle from fallō (deceive,
trick; mistake). The origin of fallō is uncertain. It’s thought either from the Proto-Italic falsō, from the primitive Indo-European
(s)whzel (to stumble) or from the primitive Indo-European
ǵhwel- (to lie, deceive) but etymologists note structural
problems with the latter. A doublet
of false.
The
word fake almost always carries negative connotations, the idea of something that
is not real, an imitation designed to trick someone into thinking it is real or
original. A fake might be a forgery or
copy which is (certainly with many digital fakes) indistinguishable from whatever
is the real or original thing it imitates, indeed it might even be an
improvement but it remains fake.
Lindsay
Lohan in faux fur, amfAR gala, New York City, 2013.
Faux has since the 1980s
been used in English (with French pronunciation) to describe anything which is
imitative without attempting to deceive.
Prior to this, the only frequent use in English was the faux pas (breach
of good manners, any act that compromises one's reputation (literally
"false step")), noted since the 1670s. Faux tends not to convey the negative
association of fake because it so blatantly an alternative rather than an attempt
to deceive, indeed, it can have positive connotations, such as when it’s fur. Faux fur is now respectable and, among some
circles, there’s long been a micro-industry devoted to turning into social pariahs
anyone wearing the real thing.
Sometimes, supporters of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals) use direct action, the flinging of red paint onto the offending coast
or stole a favorite.
Pamela Anderson, mostly real.
People do however
seem unforgiving of fake boobs which, even if admitted (apparently sometimes even "boasted of") as being fake (which really
should make them faux), seem forever doomed to be called fake. The preferred form appears to be "fake tits".
Faux also
blends well; there are fauxmosexuals & fauxtatoes. Donald Trump dubbed Elizabeth Warren (b 1949;
United States senator (Democrat) for Massachusetts since 2013) Pocahontas because
of her claim to Native American ancestry which proved dubious but allies of her
predecessor Scott Brown (b 1959; United States senator (Republican) for
Massachusetts 2010–2013), referred to her as Fauxcahontas. That was actually an incorrect use necessitated
by the need of rhyme and word formation; technically she was a Fakecahontas but
as a word it doesn’t work as well.
People anyway seemed to get the point: as a Native American, she was fake,
bogus, phoney.
Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery by Han van Meegeren (1889–1947) following Vermeer (1632-1675).
In May 1945, immediately after the liberation from Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, the authorities arrested Dutch national Han van Meegeren (1889–1947) and charged him with collaborating with the enemy, a capital crime. Evidence had emerged that van Meegeren had during World War II sold Vermeer's Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery to Hermann Göring (1893–1946; prominent Nazi 1922-1945, Reichsmarschall 1940-1945). His defense was as novel as it was unexpected: He claimed the painting was not a Vermeer but rather a forgery by his own hand, pointing out that as he had traded the fake for over a hundred other Dutch paintings seized earlier by the Reich Marshal and he was thus a national hero rather than a Nazi collaborator. With a practical demonstration (a canvas and paints brought into the courtroom) of his skill, added to his admission of having forged five other fake "Vermeers" during the 1930s, as well as two "Pieter de Hoochs" all of which had shown up on European art markets since 1937, he convinced the judges and was acquitted but was then, as he expected, charged with forgery for which he received a one year sentence, half the maximum available to the court. He died in prison of heart failure, brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse.
His skills with brush and paint aside, Van Meegeren was able successfully to pass off his 1930s fakes as those of the seventeenth century painter of the Dutch baroque, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), because of the four years he spent meticulously testing the techniques by which as a new painting could be made to look centuries old. The breakthrough was getting the oil-based paints thoroughly to harden, a process which naturally occurs over fifty-odd years. His solution was to mix the pigments with the synthetic resin Bakelite, instead of oil. For his canvas, he used a genuine but worthless seventeenth-century painting and removed as much of the picture as possible, scrubbing carefully with pumice and water, taking the utmost care not to lose the network of cracks, the existence of which would play a role in convincing many expert appraisers they were authentic Vermeers. Once dry, he baked the canvas and rubbed a carefully concocted mix of ink and dust into the edges of the cracks, emulating the dirt which would, over centuries, accumulate.
Guilty as sin: A slimmed-down Hermann Göring in the dock, Nuremberg, 1946.
Modern x-ray techniques and chemical analysis mean such tricks can no longer succeed but, at the time, so convincing were his fakes that no doubts were expressed and the dubious Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery became Göring's most prized acquisition, quite something given the literally thousands of pieces of art he looted from Europe. One of the Allied officers who interrogated Göring in Nuremberg prison prior to his trial recorded the expression on his face when told "his Vermeer" was a fake suggested that "...for the first time Göring realized there really was evil in this world". For his crimes, Göring was sentenced to be hanged, a fate he probably believed the forger should have shared.
2013 Mercedes-AMG
G 63 6×6.
Aimed at the Middle East market and manufactured between 2013-2015, a
run of one-hundred units was planned for the Mercedes-AMG G 63 6×6 and it was
advertised on that basis, exclusivity part of the attraction. Such was the demand that dealers prevailed on
behalf of a few influential customers so some additional units were built but
not many and within months, used models were selling for well above the US$550,000
(€379,000) list price. That encouraged
imitations and probably
not since the DEMAG Sd.Kfz half-tracks of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's
(1891–1944) Africa Corps ranged across Cyrenaica in 1941-1942 has there been a
vehicle so suited to the open desert.
2014 Brabus
B63S.
The tuning house Brabus, noted for catering to the small but lucrative
market of those who like the AMG cars but think they need more power, released the
B63S, its 700 horsepower quite a chunk above the 536 offered by AMG. Something imitative certainly but nobody
calls the B63S a faux or a fake. Being
in some sense a manufacturer lends validity so what Brabus does can be imitative
but what ends up as their part-number is not an imitation, let alone a fake. Real, faux or fake, Greta Thunberg (b 2003) will not be impressed.
2017
Mercedes-AMG G63 6×6 Conversion.
This
was said to have been a “conversion” of a 2017 G63 by G Wagon Car Technology
GmbH (Austria). Very well done and said to have been completed with mostly factory part-numbers, most
would regard it as a clone, replica or recreation. Curiously (though perhaps predictably), whether a Mercedes-Benz, Chevrolet, Ford or Ram, the three-axle pickups, although ideal suited to certain tasks in certain non-urban environments, seem usually resident in cities where their sheer size renders them difficult to use. They have an appeal to those who value the image they believe is projected and in a sense that's a sort of functionality. In the post-MAGA US, such machines have become personal and political statements.
1938 Mercedes-Benz G4 (W31).
The G63 6x6 may
anyway have had its own hint of the imitative.
Although Mercedes-Benz prefers not too much to dwell on the details of
its activities between 1933-1945, one of the remarkable vehicles it built during
the era was the G4 (W31). The factory
developed three-axle cross-country vehicles for military use during the 1920s
but after testing a number of the prototype G1s, the army declined to place an
order, finding them too big, too expensive and too heavy for their intended purpose. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) however, as drawn to
big, impressive machines as he was to huge, representational architecture,
ordered them adopted as parade vehicles and the army soon acquired a fleet of
the updated G4, used eventually not only on ceremonial occasions but also as
staff and command vehicles, two even specially configured, one as a baggage car
and the other a mobile communications centre, packed with radio-telephony.
Eventually, between 1934-1939, 57 were built, originally exclusively for the OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command)) and OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres (Army High
Command)) but one was gift from Hitler to Generalissimo Franco
(1892-1975; Caudillo of Spain 1939-1975). The Spanish G4, one of
few which still exists, was restored and remains in the royal garage in
Madrid. According to factory records, all were
built with 5.0, 5.3 & 5.4 litre straight-eight engines but there is an
unverified report of interview with Hitler’s long-time chauffeur, Erich Kempka
(1910-1975), suggesting one for the Führer’s exclusive use was built with the
7.7 litre straight-eight used in the 770K Grosser (W07 (1930–1938) & W150 (1938–1943)). Some of the 770s were supercharged so, if true, it's a tantalizing prospect but the story is widely thought apocryphal, no evidence
of such a one-off ever having been sighted.
There
are however fake cars and they're considered bogus if represented as a factory original (a
modified version of something else). Even
if an exact copy of what the factory did, that’s fake because it's not "authentic" yet exactly the same
machine modified in the same way is instead a “clone” a “recreation” or a “replica”
if represented as such; it's all in the transparency of the disclosure . Clone,
recreation & replica do imply a exact copy but some leeway does seem to be
granted given mechanical exactitude is sometimes simply not possible. A vehicle which is substantially a replica of
something but includes modifications to improve safety, performance or some
other aspect of the dynamics is usually styled a “tribute” or “restomod” (a portmanteau word, the construct being resto(red) + mod(ified)). The improvements can be transformative and,
in certain cases, increase value but in others, might actually detract. Whether a clone, a replica or a tribute, if
what’s being referenced is something rare and desirable, the difference in
value can be a factor of more than fifty times.
Originality can trump improvement.
1962
Ferrari 250 GTO recreation by Tempero of New Zealand.
As an extreme example there is the Ferrari 250
GTO, of which usually it's accepted 36 were built although there were actually
41 (2 x (1961) prototypes; 32 x (1962–63) Series I 250 GTO; 3 x (1962–1963)
“330 GTO”; 1 x (1963) 250 GTO with LM Berlinetta-style body & 3 x (1964)
Series II 250 GTO). The GTOs in the hands of collectors command
extraordinary prices, chassis 4153GT in June 2018 realizing US$70 million in a
private sale whereas an
immaculately crafted replica of a 1962 version by Tempero (New Zealand) was listed for sale at US$1.3 million (no NFT required). The Tempero cars are acknowledged to be better built than any original GTO although that is damning with faint praise, those who restore pre-modern Ferraris wryly noting that while the drive-trains were built with exquisite care, the assembly of the coachwork could be shoddy indeed. Indeed, when the head of one restoration company was asked if a vintage Ferrari exactly could be replicated the answer was it was doubtful: "...because none of our staff can weld that badly.", Even less exalted machinery, though
actually more rare still, like the 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible (only 12 of which were built) also illustrate the
difference for there are now considerably
more clones / replicas / recreations etc than ever there were originals and the price difference is typically a factor of ten or more.
Ferrari GTO production numbers 1961-1964.
