humbug

humpuuki

huiputtaa puhekieltä A hoax, jest, or prank.
(quote-book); W. Mynors, at the Corner of w:Chancery Lane|Chancery-Lane, Holborn; and W. Heard, at the Philobiblian's-Library, (w)|year=1754|section=title page|oclc=642524111|passage=The universal jester: or, a pocket companion for the wits. Being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious Drolleries, humorous Waggeries, smart Repartees, pleasant Jokes, Clenchers, Closures, Bon Mots, and Humbugs; comic Stories, notable Puns, witty Quibbles, and ridiculous Bulls. To which are added, Mr. Puzzlewit's gimcracks ; or, A long String of out-o'th'-way Conundrums, diverting Rebusses, poignant Epigrams, odd and uncommon Epitaphs, &c. &c. All calculated to promote inoffensive Mirth, and divert good Company with Elegance and Taste. Containing more in Number, and greater Variety, than any Book of the Kind yet published. Humbly inscribed to the choice spirits of the age. By Ferdinando Killigrew, Esq.
(quote-journal)
puhekieltä A fraud or sham (qualifier); hypocrisy (qualifier).
(quote-book)
(quote-book)|year=2008|page=215|oclc=262556595|passage=w:P. T. Barnum|Phineas Taylor Barnum turned profits detecting humbug, staging humbugs, and in authoring books that present him as a humbug. In each case he operated by aestheticizing humbug: in writing tongue-in-cheek "reform" literature about avoiding humbug, in creating narratives or mythologies to advertise his own humbugs, and in celebrating in prose his own ability to balance contradictory roles.
puhekieltä A fraudster, cheat, or hypocrite.
1877 November 24, (w), “A Humbug”, in w:Black Beauty|Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions. The Autobiography of a Horse, London: w:The Jarrold Group|Jarrold and Sons, 3, Paternoster Buildings, (w) http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/228733457 228733457; republished as Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse, Garden City, N.Y.: w:Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page & Company, 1922, (w) http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/12069677 12069677, https://books.google.com/books?id=5UE1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA151 page 151:

In a few days my new groom came. He was a tall, good-looking fellow enough; but if ever there was a humbug in the shape of a groom, Alfred Smirk was the man. He was very civil to me, and never used me ill; in fact, he did a great deal of stroking and patting when his master was there to see it. (..) But as to cleaning my feet, or looking to my shoes, or grooming me thoroughly, he thought no more of that than if I had been a cow.

When they had gone, Ma Potter opened her eyes. She said, "Pay no attention, child. Don't upset yourself. Just humbug, that's all." / "What do you mean?" Cora whispered. (..) "You mean, telling lies?" / "Not altogether. Humbuggery is what people talk without thinking. Lies are deliberate. Are you a clever child?"

Of all trades and arts in repute or possession, / Humbugging is held the most ancient profession. / Twixt nations, and parties, and state politicians, / Prim shopkeepers, jobbers, smooth lawyers, physicians, / Of worth and of wisdom the trial and test / Is—mark ye, my friends!—who shall humbug the best.

Then again farmers are shamefully, lamentably, sometimes almost ruinously humbugged. All classes it is true are humbugged to a certain extent, but farmers in my view suffer themselves to be fooled and swindled in this respect to a greater degree than any other class in the community. They are humbugged in seeds, humbugged in manures, humbugged in agricultural implements, humbugged by agents, humbugged by patent peddlers, humbugged by store-keepers, humbugged by politicians, humbugged by corporations, till finally, some of them are in danger of becoming little less than humbugs themselves.