What is swag?
Today I learned the origin of the word “swag.” Appropriate, since we are now in Mardi Gras season.
Apparently swag, in the sense of a bag to haul stuff around in, has been around for half a century or so in one form or another. The version we use today, the free crap you get from car dealers, trade shows, and Mardi Gras floats, has been around since the 1920s. During that time it was used in reference to the sort of crap you get from fairground showmen. So, from a bag to haul your crap in, to the crap you haul in your bag, either way swag has got it.
All I know is that I hope my husband doesn’t bring home more Mardi Gras swag in the form of Zulu coconuts. I know they are highly coveted and that I don’t give them the respect that they’re due. But when you see forty three of them (they’ve been rigorously counted) in your living room on a daily basis, the charm wears thin.
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