How did Fool's Gold get its name?

Answer 1

Answer

Because Fool's Gold (iron pyrite) looks like gold, but it is not real gold. It fools the finder into thinking he has found real gold. A fool will persist in thinking it is gold even when it is proven that it is not real gold.

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On the lighter side:

Some poor prospector thought he had gold, due to the shiny gold appearance of the pyrite he discovered. When he took it to the assay office, the assayer said "You have been fooled by the gold like appearance of this mineral, which is actually called 'pyrite'." Henceforth, the assayer ridiculed hundreds of subsequent prospectors with the exclamation of "Fool's Gold!" sometimes in jest, and sometimes in earnest, but always in vague reference to the suspected intelligence of its target. Pyrite thus became the only mineral to be associated with fools and the perpetration of foolishness.

Answer 2

Fool's Gold got its name because it resembles real gold to the untrained eye but is actually iron pyrite, a mineral with no real gold content. The term "fool's" implies that those who mistake it for real gold are fooled or deceived.