Swag

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Swag , from English to swagger ('to brag', 'to strut'), stands in the youth language for an enviable, casual- cool charisma or a charismatic- positive charisma - often used with an ironic connotation. In 2011 the name waschosenas youth word of the year . The term also stands for promotional gifts .

history

Anglicism became known in German-speaking countries at the end of 2010 through the Austrian rapper Money Boy . This was the original song " Turn my swag on " the American musician Soulja Boy gecovert , reaching in 14 months (between October 2010 and December 2011) approximately 14 million clicks on YouTube (until September 2014 then "just" another 6 Million clicks).

A fairly widespread assumption (probably an urban legend ) is that SWAG was a code word for Secretly We Are Gay in the Los Angeles gay scene in the 1960s . However, the veracity of this assumption is very debatable. It is more likely that this explanation is rather a pejorative backronym .

Swag was already used as an English word in different meanings. The word came in the 13th or 14th century from the Scandinavian svagga or Old Norse sveggja for “unsteady to waver; stagger "into English, cf. also engl. sway and swing , and around 1580 as names for a "big, rumbling person". In 1794 the meaning of garland was added and in 1839 “booty, stolen goods”. Closely related is the verb swagger around 1580, as it also appears in Shakespeare , and means "rebelliously / insolently stalking around" or "bragging".

Pseudo-backronymes

Likewise, the following backronymic (re) interpretations are not the origin of the word:

  • S ouvenirs, w earables, a nd g ifts
  • S tuff w e a ll g et
  • S tuff w e a in't g ot
  • S cientific w ild a rsed g uess
  • S tolen w ithout a g un
  • S old w ithout a g uarantee
  • S exy w ith a bit of g angster
  • S he W ants A G entleman

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Swag  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d German language: "Swag" is the youth word of the year 2011 - news culture. Die Welt , December 4, 2011, accessed September 4, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Turn up the swag. Money Boy via YouTube , October 6, 2010, accessed on September 2, 2014 (20,089,403 hits up to September 2, 2014, 16:32:47).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Etymology of Swag. snopes.com, September 26, 2012, accessed September 4, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b c d swag. In: Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved November 29, 2014 .
  5. ↑ She Wants A Gentleman. Retrieved June 15, 2016 .