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Mountebank is a person, or a company who tries to profit on marketing medicine to the people, normally understood in regard of dubious medicine. It can also be used to coin the practitioners of marketing of pharmaceutical products. The expression comes from the Italian montambanco or montimbanco based on the phrase monta in banco - literally referring to the action of a seller of dubious medicines getting up on a bench to address his audience of potential customers.It is synonymous with a charlatan. --Xact (talk) 22:40, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
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