Copley Square Swag Report: 3/9/06

[mabfan]

I'm sorry to report that there was no swag being offered in Copley Square this morning.

In my more paranoid moments, I suspect that all the companies discovered my blog yesterday and have decided to discontinue their programs of passing out swag, because they have been cowed by the power of the Internet.

The irony, of course, is that this morning I really could have gone for a Quaker Breakfast Cookie.

Comments

[angwantibo.livejournal.com]

How did this use of the word "swag" develop?

I always thought it was some wild donkey guess. Searches show scientific wild donkey guess.

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I always thought swag was another word for curtain or drape. Kind of a progression, like doric, ionic, and corinthian columns: my mother has curtains, my grandmother has drapes, and my Victorian great-great-great grandmother had swag[s]. No?

What is the connection to "loot"? I know not, but I use it anyway.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

Swag has lots of definitions. It's quite the versatile word.

[llennhoff.livejournal.com]

Swag = Once a jolly swagman, sat by a billabong, under the shade of a koolabah tree...

SWAG = silly wild assed guess, IME. Scientific is ok too, IMHO.

Swag (booty,loot) is substantially older than SWAG.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

You're correct and mabfan is correct.

I looked it up.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

From the American Heritage Dictionary (Third Edition, 1996):

swag n. 1.a. An ornamental drapery or curtain draped in a curve between two points. b. An ornamental festoon of flowers or fruit. c. A carving or plaster molding of such an ornament. 2. Slang. Stolen property; loot. 3. Australian. The pack or bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman. 4. Slang. Herbal tea in a plastic sandwich bag sold as marijuana to an unsuspecting customer.

The Urban Dictionary has many definitions for "swag".

[kuroshii.livejournal.com]

SWAG as an acronym has been defined as Stuff We All Get. but this is likely a case of the word coming first and someone else thinking up acronym-words to go along with it. kind of like the cyborg name decoder that's been floating around.