phoney

To talk about horology on the moon wouldn't add to Dabney's stature as a phoney scientist.

It had had, in fact, to be an honest job of ship-building in order to put across a phoney promotion.

Don't you know that you an' me stand to swing if any of de bunch gets gabby in front of dis phoney punk?

Well, I'll gamble a stack of blue chips there ain't such a phoney pair in Manhattan Village.

It would be an adventure, at least, and Murphy's repeated assertions that it was "a phoney" invited investigation.