In message <198A730C2044DE4A96749D13E167AD3725041B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx om>, "Hallam-Baker, Phillip" writes: >They did it for the telephone system in the 1920s - the term phony >appears in the English language in 1900 when the telephone started to >spread. [The alternative etymology in certain editions of Webster via >Fawney appears to be unsupported guesswork] Source, please? The OED lists it as "of uncertain origin". (It does agree with your time statement.) --Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf