Clone: Fake v Replica

[Dan Goncharoff]

Checking the archives, I found no discussion of the word "clone".

I have come across two different uses recently.

In the news today, there are reports of drug smugglers using "clone
vehicles" to bring drugs across the border from Mexico and to transport
them within the US. The vehicles have high quality markings of government
agencies and corporations, involving anything from pick-ups to school buses
to tanker trucks to delivery vans for Fedex and UPS.

Last week, I bought clone golf clubs. They are not fakes. They are replica
clubs, made to be similar to brand-name clubs, but with their own markings.
They are advertised as clones. (You can Google 'clone golf clubs for
examples.)

I wasn't aware that clones had become so commercially legitimate.

DanG

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