Slang term for cheap or substandard metal alloy, or to refer to something of poor quality.
Named after George Muntz, a 19th-century British metallurgist who created Muntz metal (brass alloy with high zinc content). The term became associated with anything shoddy or low-grade.
Muntz metal was actually a practical invention that replaced traditional brass in many applications, but because it was cheaper and less pure, people started using 'muntz' to mean anything fake or inferior—a name that became an insult!
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