Learn English – Metaphor or idiom for “poor substitute”

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I'm trying to find an idiom for a poor substitute. One that comes to mind is Mark Twain's purported remark: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

I’m looking to describe something that intrinsically falls short – not a failing of someone or something in a particular instance. The metaphor should mention two persons or objects (like lightning and lightning bug), one of which falls almost ludicrously short.

Are there other, colorful metaphors that carry this meaning?

Best Answer

You could use the term poor man's whatever, which means:

Cheaper than, simpler than, or inferior to.

Often used to describe a free or cheap alternative to a commodity.

This is an excerpt from Wiktionary's "poor man's" entry and used under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 License.


This is sometimes used in the form of X is the poor man's Y. Here are some exemplary sentences from the Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd Ed.

He was only ever a mediocre singer - they used to call him 'the poor man's Frank Sinatra'.

'So what did you think of the film?' 'It was just a poor man's 'Pulp Fiction'.'

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