Ersatz good

Okay kiddo, let me explain what ersatz good means. An ersatz good is a thing that isn’t the real thing, but it’s meant to be a substitute.

Let’s say you really want a toy car that costs a lot of money, but you don’t have the money for it. So instead, your mom buys you a toy car that looks like the real thing but it costs a lot less. That toy car is an ersatz good.

Another example is when you want a brand-name cereal that has a cool cartoon character on the box, but your mom buys a generic brand with no character on the box. It still tastes good, but it’s not the exact same thing.

So, an ersatz good is a replacement for something you really want, but it might not be as good as the real thing.