The Real McCoy

In third grade my class went to the library to learn about the term "the real McCoy". At the time, I remember being completely baffled by the fact that the term "McCoy" didn't relate to the term "decoy". The McCoy is the real thing and a decoy is a fake - and they're both coys.

How did they not come about at the same time?

In my third grade mind, I thought that there must have been an instance of something, at the time I envisioned a rubber ducky (the only explanation for this is the fact that I was nine), that was the original. It was called Coy. Then, someone created another version of the rubber ducky, but it wasn't quite right.

People looked at the new ducky and said: What is that? That is not Coy.

Then the creator said: Yes it is, it looks just like Coy.

To which the original's owner replied (annoyed): No, that's not Coy. This is my Coy. This is myCoy! This is McCoy.

And then, to really drive the point home, he said: This is McCoy and that's nothing but a dumb decoy.

And that's how the real McCoy and the lesser decoy came about.

And although I really love the McCoy version of the Lanvin Pom Pom Espadrille's, for one eighth of the cost, the decoy version from Gap is looking pretty nice.

My, how far that library lesson has taken me...