Oscar Wilde wrote that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I don’t believe Wilde was thinking or art forgeries or the SAT when he suggested that copying is actually a sign of respect.
A recent SAT vocabulary in context question focused on art forgeries. I was surprised to learn that 40 to 50 percent of artworks in circulation may be imitations. SAT test writers note that highly skilled specialists use a variety of scientific tests to distinguish forgeries from authentic works of art. However, experts acknowledge that no artist is truly INIMITABLE – anything can be copied!
INIMITABLE – so good or unusual as to be impossible to copy; unique