Sunday, August 2, 2015

pawn off/palm off: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, August 2, 2015

pawn off/palm off
Somebody defrauds you by using sleight of hand (literal or figurative) to “palm” the object you wanted and give you something inferior instead. The variant spelling “pawn off” is both long-established and very popular, but makes little logical sense.

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