# SWAG **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748 "2013-09-26T19:16:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HenryDorsettCase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f19dbf/32.png) [@HenryDorsettCase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HenryDorsettCase)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/1 "2013-09-26T19:16:05Z")
Looking at urban dictionary, I noticed the word SWAG. Now, I worked for Corporate America for a couple of decades and to me, the acronym has always declined into Stupid Wild-Assed Guess. However, on the street these days it means Secretly We Are Gay. I guess I can’t register the damned thing, but somehow I’m affronted. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/2 "2013-09-26T19:19:03Z")
No, no, it means Stuff We All Get. Free stuff, like from radio promotions, drug reps in doctors offices, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/3 "2013-09-26T19:34:32Z")
I doubt it’s an acronym- these things usually aren’t. [Here’s a Snopes entry about it](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/swag.asp), and I found one dictionary that cites its origin as “Middle English (in the sense ‘bulging bag’): probably of Scandinavian origin. The original sense of the verb (early 16th cent.) was ‘cause to sway or sag.’” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/4 "2013-09-26T19:44:13Z")
In the Navy we always called it a _Scientific_ Wild Ass Guess. Adds to the credibility. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/5 "2013-09-26T19:49:52Z")
[Swag](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=swag&searchmode=none) from The Online Etymological Dictionary which is generally quite good linguistically speaking with the unfortunate exception of the entry for literally. The most modern usage means either material gained for free, often as part of a promotion or one’s self-confidence and bravado. Secretly We Are Gay and Stuff We All Get are backronyms, created as an attempt in the former to insult a group of people the speaker dislikes who use that slang among themselves and in the latter as an attempt to logically explain the association between the word and its meaning. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/6 "2013-09-26T19:51:57Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > No, no, it means Stuff We All Get. Free stuff, like from radio promotions, drug reps in doctors offices, etc. You’ve heard of people walking around with a swagger in their step? It’s because they’re loaded down with a bunch of free stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/7 "2013-09-26T20:00:25Z")
I bet even my mom knows what swag is. You guys need to keep up. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/8 "2013-09-26T20:18:41Z")
I thought it was a type of lamp. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/9 "2013-09-26T21:18:56Z")
If you have to ask, then you ain’t got it. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/10 "2013-09-26T21:26:09Z")
“Swag” has made a bit of a comeback recently. It’s a popular internet meme and was popular in high schools 2 years ago. This time around, it means to dress or act in a cool, eye-catching way. It came into fashion around the same time as YOLO. So now you know. You can all go back to being old. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/11 "2013-09-26T21:26:20Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > No, no, it means Stuff We All Get. Free stuff, like from radio promotions, drug reps in doctors offices, etc. Yup. The stuff we scammed at the vendors fair at conferences. Pens, magnets etc. my kids now hate it when I call it swag. Been calling it that for over 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/12 "2013-09-27T00:08:32Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I doubt it’s an acronym- these things usually aren’t. [Here’s a Snopes entry about it](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/swag.asp), and I found one dictionary that cites its origin as “Middle English (in the sense ‘bulging bag’): probably of Scandinavian origin. The original sense of the verb (early 16th cent.) was ‘cause to sway or sag.’” Related example: [swagman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swagman), as in: > [@](#): > > 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: > “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me?” ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/13 "2013-09-27T18:59:07Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > In the Navy we always called it a _Scientific_ Wild Ass Guess. Adds to the credibility. 😃 See now we call “SWAG” a SUPER wild ass guess, as opposed to a simple, garden variety Wild-ass guess (WAG.) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/14 "2013-09-28T00:00:07Z")
Here’s a thread about it: > **[Origin of Swag: "Secretly we are gay"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=664255)** > > This meme has been circulating twitter and Facebook: “The term swag was invented in the early 60’s by a group of gay men in Hollywood. It stands for ‘secretly we are gay’ and was most frequently used as code on posters announcing gay orgies.” I’m... It wasn’t created as an acronym. Fairly recently it began to be used by young people to mean something “neat, cool, hip.” Other people were annoyed by this word, and they made up a joke that it really meant “Secretly we are gay.” ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/15 "2013-09-29T03:32:07Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > In the Navy we always called it a _Scientific_ Wild Ass Guess. Adds to the credibility. 😃 The first time I heard it used was in pharmacy school, and it was used this eay too. Scientific Wild Ass Guess. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/16 "2013-09-29T08:18:10Z")
Sealed With A…Grope? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/17 "2013-09-29T09:59:40Z")
I always thought swag was pirate booty and by modern-day extension any sort of loot, which could also include free stuff. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/18 "2013-09-29T10:09:00Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Sealed With A…Grope? Sealed With A Grape. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2013, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swag/669748/19 "2013-09-29T10:14:52Z")
[AcronymFinder.com](http://www.acronymfinder.com/SWAG.html) lists 84 meanings for SWAG. I particularly like Satan’s Wishes Are Granted, Sex with a Goat and Sleeping with a Ginger.