One of my pet peeves are “fakers”, posers who pretend to possess expertise and qualifications which they did not earn. The interweb is full of foreign, self-appointed experts and posers. I really hate fake engineers and fakers who give themselves fancy titles:
Posers love fake job titles
In college, I remember learning that a “faker” was a derivative of the word “fakir”, an Indian swami who dazzled people with feats of magic and illusion. Here are some “fake” accolades that I’ve seen used by fakers:
This thread has an interesting discussion of the origin of the word “faker”, with evidence that a faker is indeed derived from the Indian word “fakir”:
The "fakir" - Origion of the word faker
“I have seen a turn-of-the-century postcard with the caption "Fakir's Row" at the annual Brockton (Mass.) Fair.
I'm sure this was not a row of Hindu holy men but rather more like what Tatyana says: magicians performing their various smoke and mirror acts."