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In deference to those who object to links to commercial sites, I will just post the relevant sentence from a site touting for subscriptions to a Canadian magazine:
In addition to some great articles, we have silliness, some schwag, and even a really long poll.
Now, is schwag a Canadianism or is it more widely used? I gather it refers to souvenir itemries one can purchase to indicate to the world at large one's support for a particular product.
Bingley
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In reply to:
some schwag
It occurs often, but usually spelled (and pronounced) swag. It's the ephemeral toys one gets a conferences, like keycgains and t-shirts. At least that's what it means in Silicon Valley, Kaliforniens. I first noticed it a decade or so ago.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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in some contexts schwag can be taken as a slang term for "bad weed". but here, it seems more in keeping with swag, a window dressing.
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> ephemeral toys one gets a conferences
yep, that would be my take too, and I had always assumed a kind of backformation from 'swag bag' since there are always a plethora of kewl bags pre-stuffed with toys, gimmicks and publications. But that swag bag's a WAG so don't nag if negative!
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'swag bag'This page has some more meanings: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swag
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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>But that swag bag's a WAG so don't nag if negative!
but not a SWAG?!
-ron (prescience through foresight) obvious
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from the wiki grab-bag: Swag is actually an acronym for "Stuff We All Get", originated from the .com years where companies used these give-away items as promotional mechanisms.
Swag can also stand for "Stolen While At Gig"hmmmm. not a wiki classic, I fear. This marketing device long predates the dot com bubble. It might be fairer to describe these as post-facto rationalisations (or folk etymology) unless they have decisive citations, since the natural meaning is long established and is a more natural leap (swag as booty, loot). http://www.bartleby.com/61/97/S0929700.html
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but mav. note that the foremost def'n from your link covers "window dressing", while the lattermost covers "bad weed".
-joe (tootles) f.
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yep, I note that, but it still seems a more obvious connection to me: freebies > loot. There's a long history of visually based humour too of the swag-bag toting thief carting off his ill-gotten gains - that's international, isn't it, all-y'all?
But you could well be right, depending on the context of the site - mebbe they meant it to indicate 'pretty window dressing' in addition to other kinds of content. Come in Bing!
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Wikipedia also lists schwag, under its entry for Promotional Item: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotional_item...as do a number of other sites, including The Urban Dictionary. But I, too, had never heard of it before you brought it up, Bingley.
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good fetch AsP - can the yiddish be verified or dated by anyone though?
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Yiddish
I think it is the word chochke that is being said to derive from Yiddish, and not schwag. (It's in neither Weinreich nor Harkavy.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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One wonders if swag became schwag in the about the same manner that sweet became schweet in the parlance of some.
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>can the yiddish be . . . dated by anyone though?
I used to date a Yiddish girl. Her name was Carmen Cohen. Her mom called her Carmen and her dad called her Cohen, so sometimes she didn't know if she was Carmen or Cohen.
Hey, I warned you!
TEd
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> didn't know if she was Carmen
well, you probably didn't date long, eh?
<oy! running away-e>
formerly known as etaoin...
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The schwag referred to all seems to be T-shirts, sports shirts and other tops emblazoned with the name of the magazine. They aren't free.
Bingley
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Just for the record, I had never seen the word "schwag". It might be a regional word, too.
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