Since you said it was possibly a surname, my guess is that someone named Fugazi was a well known counterfeiter for the mob, and the Italian Americans started using it as slang.
Comment on Italian place in South Africa, which means "counterfeit" in Italian (correct me if I'm wrong)
CorrenteAlternata@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 days agoWhat I was trying to say is that that’s not Italian. It’s US English :)
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 days ago
CorrenteAlternata@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 days ago
For me it makes sense! I also imagine the name could originally be Fugazzi with two z, as that would make more sense in Italian. And then it maybe was anglicised first as Fugazy (as said in Wiktionary) and finally Fugazi!
GottaHaveFaith@fedia.io 5 days ago
that's baloney!