Queer as a three-dollar bill
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Extremely odd or suspicious, standing out as fake or unnatural. It's a quirky jab at strangeness or deceit, with a tone of playful doubt or outright disbelief, used for people, things, or situations that don't add up.
Origin
From 20th-century America, tied to the fact that no three; dollar bill exists-counterfeits aside-making it inherently fishy. A 1940s slang term, it grew in gay subcultures for flamboyant oddity, as in a 1960s memoir, later broadening. Some link 'queer' to its old sense of 'strange,' not sexuality.
Usage Examples
- That story's queer as a three; dollar bill; no way it's true.
- He's queer as a three; dollar bill in that bright suit.
- The deal seemed queer as a three; dollar bill; too good.
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