Do you know what a sham is?

[CostaCosta]

Ds came home from school having learnt this word. I have never heard of a sham (only in the sense of abbreviated "shambles."

You do know you could use google to find this out?

And you do know you could read the thread?🤣

I’ve never heard of this OP. But I do put a ‘fancier’ pillow on top of my ‘less fancy’ pillow in the day when I make the bed. Have I had a pillow sham all this time and not known? 😮

Did you know they’ve removed the word gullible from the dictionary this year

Just look on the Dunelm site. They sell pillow shams. 😮

Every day is a school day. 😬

Well, that's a new one on me. Never heard of a pillow sham.

I'd have said 'fake' or 'false' - might be used in some sort of a on, and yes a 'sham marriage' would be the phrase i'd have expected people might have heard of though not in Yr1 hopefully.

@Heyha Father Ted ' This competition is a sham and a fraud and a . . Sham!'

Sham is never used as an abbreviation for “shambles”.

I’m amused at a 5 year-old knowing about pillow shams though. Maybe has an American parent?

I am going to end up buying a lace pillow sham from Dunelm as a consequence of this thread.

I am going to end up buying a lace pillow sham from Dunelm as a consequence of this thread.

🤣

It's a cover up. i.e Pillow
fake, untrue, cover up.

If you live in certain culchie parts of Northern Ireland, it means friend. I seem to remember an accompanying hand gesture if you were out driving and met another sham coming towards you in a car, but that was a long time ago.

A sham is a fancy pillowcase as opposed to a regular pillowcase. I’ve live in the US well over a decade and finally worked this out recently.

I have only skim read the thread and haven't noticed anyone mentioning a sham/shammy cloth for window cleaning?

It might be a fancy pillowcase in the US but in the English language it means false.

A hoax, lie etc.

Lol I'll have to look up pillow shams. Feel like I've been missing out.

@acatcalledjohn isn’t that a chamois? A yellow cloth thing for car windows?

Yes - apart from the alternative bedding/friend-based meanings that I've just learned from this thread, it basically means fake, false, pretend, a charade etc.

There's an old toast that says: "Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends" which is very witty.

Somebody later adapted this to "Shampoo for my real friends, real poo for my sham friends" which is both very witty and also endlessly hilarious if you're under 108 8

acatcalledjohn I think you're thinking of a chamois cloth.

*cross post with FloranceNightshade.

Yes, chamois, but also commonly known as a sham or shammy.

Yes it's a word in common use. Surely you must have heard someone say something is a sham = meaning not as it appears.

I've also heard of pillow shams.

In fact, I've just seen that there's a lovely cross-stitch pattern available to celebrate this very sentiment. Perfect for making lots of and then giving out to each of your friends and acquaintances as precious gifts. They'll all chuckle along knowingly as they receive it and award it pride of place above their mantelpieces, but only you will know in which category they actually belong: A PA crafter's dreams all come true at once

www.etsy.com/listing/619389708/cross-stitch-pattern-shampoo-for-my-real

It's also a homophone of the German 'scham', meaning 'shame'. Or 'pubic area'

A sham is not the same as a pillow sham.

My gran used the phrase pillow sham rather than pillow case. She also called a mattress a Tick and never used words like duvet or quilt. They were called bedclothes. I just thought they were all old fashion phrases that rarely get used these days.