The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds, by George de la Tour, c. 1635. Louvre Museum, Paris.
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Miscellany
The American English term wooden nutmeg, meaning “anything false or fraudulent,” dates from 1829, when Connecticut traders were known to place fake wooden nutmegs in batches of real ones to defraud customers.
The poor man is ruined as soon as he begins to ape the rich.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC
