Faux Used For Man Made Lookalikes
One of the more amusing aspects of the advertisig world is the need to keep the buying public thinking they’re ahead of the game. We hear the word ‘faux’ banded about very liberally these days. Take faux leather – this covers a variety of furnishing, clothing and footwear. At one time we would have happily taken a plastic mac out with us in winter to protect from the odd rain shower. However anyone unable to afford a proper leather lounge suite would buy a lesser version and hope desperately that the neighbours didn’t notice and thus not refer to it as plastic. The advertising world brought such relief to all when they coined the phrase – from the French – of faux, in the modern context meaning false, or lookalike. The word faux is a brilliant and much more acceptable phrase for the use of any manmade materials used to make something look like leather or wood, whatever. Our furnishing choices can be readily made knowing we won’t be judged for having a socially unacceptable material these days!