Ersatz

Ersatz

<air-zots>

fake; phony; false;

something that is artificial or counterfeit.

Never buy ersatz lemonade. Always make sure it has lemon juice. Some brands are all sugar.

Memory trick:
ersatz reminds of err.
an err is a mistake.
we mistake fake for real.

The bug problem went away when we got ersatz flowers. No one was happy because we missed the aroma the office.

(c) 2015 E. Carruthers