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prettygoodwordbogus (BOH-guhs) - adj., counterfeit, fake, sham; undesirable, harmful; (computing) incorrect or broken.
Another colorful 19th century Americanism ... or is it? I understood it as originating (from entirely uncertain origin) in the 1820s in frontier journalism, meaning specifically counterfeit money, but apparently it was first used for the machines for counterfeiting coins -- and traces of that meaning in underworld slang can be found thirty years earlier. In any case, transferring bogus from the machine to its product happened soon after it appeared in an Ohio newspaper, after which it stayed in general if not common use in America. The computing sense evolved in the 1960s, and it spread worldwide as teen slang thanks to Bill and Ted's excellent usage.
---L.
Another colorful 19th century Americanism ... or is it? I understood it as originating (from entirely uncertain origin) in the 1820s in frontier journalism, meaning specifically counterfeit money, but apparently it was first used for the machines for counterfeiting coins -- and traces of that meaning in underworld slang can be found thirty years earlier. In any case, transferring bogus from the machine to its product happened soon after it appeared in an Ohio newspaper, after which it stayed in general if not common use in America. The computing sense evolved in the 1960s, and it spread worldwide as teen slang thanks to Bill and Ted's excellent usage.
---L.
