I'd be like 'swag!'
May 28, 2011 7:26 AM   Subscribe

 
It's quite funny if you grew up in London in the 90's when swag was the main word for something shit.

It would be interesting to see how the two etymologies came up with different meanings. I know that swag can mean bad marijuana in those circles, so that could be a reason for the UK use.
posted by Not Supplied at 7:35 AM on May 28, 2011


I always thought swag - as in plunder or belongings - was different from swagger, which is a kind of ultra-confident walk. The internet is yielding me no clarity. The Norwegian 'svagga' apparently means to rock from side to side, which is presumably where the walk meaning came from.

Whatever. I'm too old for this shit. I'm still reeling from 'sick'.
posted by Summer at 7:44 AM on May 28, 2011


swag comes from swagger and it came out of sports, not hip hop, and i'm already sick of it
posted by nathancaswell at 7:46 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


I was always told that schwag meant low-grade weed, whereas swag is the industry (pick any industry) term for "Shit We All Get." So, while Diddy or whatever intends it to be short for swagger, I'm still imagining him throwing free t-shirts and Coke Zero at people.
posted by katillathehun at 7:54 AM on May 28, 2011 [5 favorites]


Stolen Without A Gun
posted by Ideefixe at 7:58 AM on May 28, 2011


S.W.A.G. - Scientific Wild Ass Guess
posted by Daddy-O at 7:58 AM on May 28, 2011


throwing free t-shirts and Coke Zero at people.

I've always thought that the term "chum," as in stuff slopped around to attract feeders, is more descriptive of the free t-shirts and Coke Zero.
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:13 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


It's always meant free stuff you get at conventions to me. *shrug*

Also, fuck p.diddy.
posted by delmoi at 8:22 AM on May 28, 2011


SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG.

that's all
posted by azarbayejani at 8:40 AM on May 28, 2011


like delmoi, I've always used it to mean "stuff we all get"

but this: I don't get it.
posted by Thomas Tallis is my Homeboy at 9:05 AM on May 28, 2011 [2 favorites]


nathancaswell,

While swagger may be used in sports, I think the term goes back further than that into literature and fiction.

Along with swag (free junky convention gifts), sway also finds a home when discussion drapery and sewing.
posted by sardonyx at 9:09 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


Hijacking the next generation's lingo to stay relevant is pretty pathetic.

I think the only rapper name stealing a slang word that pissed me off was The Game. For us, the Game was a recognition of life- all the forces out of your control, conditions of life- history, oppression, and even the ways in which people perpetuate and maintain those systems - out of choice or out of survival. The game was all pervasive and flowed between, you, me, the tree on the corner- it was like the Force, the Tao, and the Way.

You needed to constantly peep game to become wise to the game, or you were lost to game. Life would constantly throw things your way, and you had to always ask, "What part of the game is this?"

For any person, but especially years after the word had started passing out of popularity, to call himself that? Bullshit straight up and down.

Puff Daddy's bit is even worse - he needs to stop trying to jump for attention and just stick to producing.
posted by yeloson at 9:30 AM on May 28, 2011


Go, Swagger Lee.
posted by box at 10:54 AM on May 28, 2011


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manny_the_Hippie
posted by humboldt32 at 10:55 AM on May 28, 2011


that "stuff we all get" is a total backronym.
posted by scruss at 11:29 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


This is the first time I've ever heard of "stuff we all get", really sounds like a backronym to me. And cheap/low quality marijuana is "schwag" (here we called it "Mexican" more often, though, since that's where it comes from). I'd like to know where the hell that word came from, actually. Sounds sort of Germanic.
posted by DecemberBoy at 11:33 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


Diddy isn't a rapper.
posted by TheKM at 11:38 AM on May 28, 2011


Diddy isn't a rapper.

Neither is Lil B. Can someone please explain to me how it is possible for this guy to have legitimate fans? Or is it just smug and lazy irony?
posted by molecicco at 11:44 AM on May 28, 2011


Dirtweed, ditchweed, stress.
posted by box at 11:52 AM on May 28, 2011


That article is a FAPathon.

"'Swag' seems to me to be especially suited to the ethos of hip hop," Ingrid Monson, a professor of music and African and African-American studies at Harvard, says. "Swag, to swagger, to carry oneself with attitude—what could be a more fitting word for hip hop?"

What a bunch of horseshit. As if swag or swagger didn't exist in hip hop's common parlance before 2008? Come on.
Diddy has been outright stealing shit and proclaiming it's his for years.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:53 AM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


Lil B fans (a group that I do not belong to) mostly seem to talk about either his 'positivity' or his internet marketing strategies.
posted by box at 11:57 AM on May 28, 2011


"'Swag' seems to me to be especially suited to the ethos of hip hop,"

And just to go a little further with Monson's statement there, I think it's exactly right. Sean Combs is probably directly responsible for making hip hop into strictly a commodified object rather than an artistic pursuit. Lots of rappers had jewelry and nice cars in their videos before him but after him Biggie, and Jay-Z following up everyone was on a yacht dumping Crystal on scantily clad women. Go back to the mid-nineties and you can see that shit happening in slow motion as each video is released.
posted by P.o.B. at 11:59 AM on May 28, 2011


Pre-dating much of that cited in the article:

Waltzing Matilda "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"

Written in 1895 by Banjo Paterson

"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

..."

many more verses and variation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda
posted by rjc3000 at 12:00 PM on May 28, 2011


I started saying "you swag to to maximum" after the last Lil B post. The reactions I get are great but I'm sure white balding almost middle aged guys saying it will hasten it's death. Here is a sample conversation.

Guy:"Just wanted to level set and let you know we are on track to complete the current iteration."
Me:"Thanks, you swag to the maximum."
Guy: o_O
Me: "I like to keep my shit current."
posted by Ad hominem at 12:07 PM on May 28, 2011 [1 favorite]


Puff Daddy wants to be called Swag? That's cool, but now I'll always picture him as a sweaty bedroll carted around by outback travelers and vagrants.
posted by mosessis at 4:28 PM on May 28, 2011


In Australia it's commonly used in three ways, thus:

"What's in your swag?" (bag)

"Check out all the swag!" (goodies) (this may technically be spelled "schwag")

"Gonna go hit the swag" (bedroll)
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:17 PM on May 28, 2011


Puff Daddy must have some ongoing or recurring bet that he can't make a new nickname stupider than the last: Sean Combs > Puff Daddy > P. Diddy > Diddy > Swag
posted by p3t3 at 8:44 PM on May 28, 2011


He has an unfortunate luck in the names that he picks too. In Britain puff is a derogatory word for gay, in Scotland a diddy is a moron, and now he chosen swag, which Not Supplied says was 90s London slang for shit.
posted by molecicco at 1:33 AM on May 29, 2011


Puff Daddy must have some ongoing or recurring bet that he can't make a new nickname stupider than the last: Sean Combs > Puff Daddy > P. Diddy > Diddy > Swag

'Sean Combs' is particularly ridiculous. Even a beginner knows that cooms can't be shorn, only trimmed with a lardle knife, and then only when they're ulvilacting.
posted by Not Supplied at 2:34 AM on May 29, 2011


« Older The dude abides, Captain   |   The World Record is awarded for Cleanest Floor... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments