TAWDRY: cheap and gaudy in appearance or quality; also: ignoble
In the seventh century, Etheldreda, the queen of Northumbria, renounced her husband and her royal position for the veil of a num. She was renowned for he saintliness and is traditionally said to have died of a swelling in her throat, which she took as a judgement upon her fondness for wearing necklaces in her youth. Her shrine became a principal site of pilgrimage in England. An annual fair was held in h er nonor on Cotober 17, and her name was simplified to St. Audrey. Various kinds of cheap knick knacks were sold at the fair, along with a type of necklace called "St. Audrey's lace," which by the 17th century had become altered to "tawdry lace." Eventually, "tawdry" came to be used to describe anythng cheap and gaudy that might be found at such a fair or anywhere else.
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