gewgaw G(Y)OO-gaw, noun:

A showy trifle; a trinket; a bauble.

Bidders paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthless gewgaws--fake pearls, ashtrays, golf clubs--merely, one supposes, because they were touched by the hand of this celebrity of celebrities. --Lawrence M. Friedman, The Horizontal Society

At least, you're tempted until you discover that the price of this gewgaw is $175. --Walter Shapiro, "Earn exciting prizes from the Republicans!" USA Today, March 27, 2002

Walk into almost any department store, and there it is -- along with mounds of other gimmicky gadgets and garish gewgaws that (no offense, Vanna) the world can live without. --James A. Russell, "What the World Needs Now... Is Not Another Gimmicky Gadget or Worthless Doohickey," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 9, 1995

The origin of gewgaw is uncertain.

my favorite part is the origin of gewgaw.

ok so at my mom's office they put down rubber mats so people would not slip on the ice. however, ice just collected on the rubber mats making them inefficient. they called some sort of meeting to talk about this problem. one suggestion was that all of the men lye down on the ice rubber mats and the women walk on them. my mom thought this was a great and hysterical idea. she laughed about it all aftertoon thinking things like "i'll walk on your FACE!"

byeness