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Swampland in Florida refers to decades-old but still recurring real estate scams involving swamp lands misrepresented as being possible to develop, or "buildable". These scams became widely known and now also have meaning as a common figure of speech. Expressions like "I have swampland in Florida to sell you" or "I have prime swampland to sell you" are slang expressions that the recipient shows gullibility. It says figuratively that someone lacks sense like one who would fall for an old deception or fraud of paying large amounts of money for a worthless item such as swampland. These phrases are often preceded by or imply, "If you believe that then..." Sometimes other swampy locations besides Florida are used in the term. == Origin of the term == The phrase originates from the common land banking scams of the 1920s, when booming "land mania" preceded the Great Depression.〔Florida land boom of the 1920s〕 One of the original sellers of swampland was in fact Charles Ponzi. Similar terms came from the early 20th century where con-men would sell landmarks to which no one owns the title such as the Brooklyn Bridge to newly arrived immigrants in the United States. The phrase about gullibility referring to those events said, "if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you." Those evolved in the 1960s and 1970s to include fraudulent sales of worthless swampland real estate in Florida. Though the term originates in the United States, it is now also understood and used in other English-speaking countries.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Swampland in Florida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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