duffer

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The Word of the Day for September 28 is:

duffer   \DUFF-er\   noun
     1 a : a peddler especially of cheap flashy articles  b : something 
counterfeit or worthless 
    *2 : an incompetent, ineffectual, or clumsy person; especially : a mediocre 
golfer
     
Example sentence:
     Max had said he was just a duffer, but we knew otherwise when we saw his 
first drive land squarely on the green.

Did you know?
     Duffers have never really been straight shooters -- on or off the golf 
course. The original duffers of the mid-18th century were shysters of the first 
order, merchants who palmed off trashy goods as if they were highly valuable 
(they often implied to unwary buyers that the goods had been smuggled and were 
very rare). Over time, the meaning of "duffer" was extended from a no-good 
peddler to anyone who was "no good," not just because the individual had low 
morals, but because he or she was incompetent or stupid. The term has been 
applied to hopelessly bad golfers since at least 1897.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.