tawdry

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The Word of the Day for August 9 is:

tawdry   \TAW-dree\   adjective
    : cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality; also : ignoble

Example sentence:
     Tom and Pam found themselves in an unfamiliar section of 
the city, walking by tawdry storefronts and shady bars.

Did you know?
     In the 7th century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, 
renounced her husband and her royal position for the veil of a 
nun. She was renowned for her saintliness and is traditionally 
said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as 
a judgment upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. 
Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An 
annual fair was held in her honor on October 17th, and her name 
became simplified to St. Audrey. At these fairs various kinds of 
cheap knickknacks were sold, along with a type of necklace 
called "St. Audrey's lace," which by the 17th century had become 
altered to "tawdry lace." Eventually, "tawdry" came to be used 
to describe anything cheap and gaudy that might be found at 
these fairs or anywhere else.