# The word 'fag' = cigarette... Still in use? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688 "2013-10-19T23:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/1 "2013-10-19T23:06:50Z")
I recently came across [this article on ‘The Weird Universe’](http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/the_ammunition_hat/), which used the word ‘fag’ to describe cigarettes. I realize that this was a common slang word for cigarettes in England (Great Britain? Which is correct?) at one time. (The date cited for the ad is 1932.) My question for our English Dopers… Is the term still used there? And in general, do any of our ‘senior Dopers’ recall if the term was ever used here in the USA? ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/2 "2013-10-19T23:12:29Z")
Can’t vouch for England or Great Britain, but it’s definitely used in Ireland (‘I’m going for a fag’, ‘Have you got a fag?’). I don’t really hear ‘fag’ used any other way (although this generation of teenagers use a lot more US slang, so they might use it the US way). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/3 "2013-10-19T23:14:07Z")
Never having been across the pond I can’t give you any real world examples, but I’m almost positive they used it in Trainspotting (Scotland?) as well as some other BBC shows and British movies I’ve seen. ETA, It’s NEVER used in the US unless someone’s trying to get a little bit of shock value out of the word. At least not in the last 20-30 years in the midwest. If you said ‘fag’ it meant gay. It may have had different connotations over the years, but no one ever thought ‘cigarette’ first. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/4 "2013-10-19T23:31:23Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Never having been across the pond I can’t give you any real world examples, but I’m almost positive they used it in Trainspotting (Scotland?) as well as some other BBC shows and British movies I’ve seen. > > ETA, It’s NEVER used in the US unless someone’s trying to get a little bit of shock value out of the word. At least not in the last 20-30 years in the midwest. If you said ‘fag’ it meant gay. It may have had different connotations over the years, but no one ever thought ‘cigarette’ first. As I said, I’m aware of its usage ‘across the pond’. 😉 I’m curious as to whether or not it’s still _commonly used_, in the context referred to in the OP. I’m 53 and the only connotation that I’ve ever inferred from the word was gay/homosexual. I was wondering if someone older than I recalls hearing it used in some other way, here in America. **eclectic wench** , do you mean to say that the term is still commonly used to refer to a cigarette in Ireland? (by the ‘older’ generation) ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/5 "2013-10-19T23:35:10Z")
Yes, among Irish people aged say 25 and up, it’s commonly used to refer to a cigarette, and not in any other context. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/6 "2013-10-19T23:41:18Z")
The term was still used by older people when I was growing up in NZ (1990s) but it was heading into the same category as terms like “The Wireless” - ie, words your grandad used. The alternative meaning of the word was well known when I was in high school, of course, and I recall a joke doing the rounds to the effect it would be unwise for a smoker to visit a gay bar and ask if they could “bum a fag”\* due to the potential for misunderstanding\*\*. I don’t think I’ve heard the term “fag” used unironically to refer to a cigarette in Australia by anyone who wasn’t old enough to remember the Vietnam War as being news, though. \*To acquire a free cigarette in a social situation. Bumming was also a slang term for gay sex, if it wasn’t obvious from the context. \*\* New Zealand’s South Island was not exactly the most progressive place at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/7 "2013-10-19T23:50:56Z")
Incredibly common in Britain, nobody blinks at it. It is colloquial slang though, you wouldn’t ask the Queen if Prince Philip smokes fags. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/8 "2013-10-20T01:07:46Z")
Yep, it’s the most common slang term for a cigarette. The American meaning of fag/faggot is known too, but not used very much. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/9 "2013-10-20T01:18:48Z")
Incidentally, I think that the ad in the OP is from an American magazine. The term “co-eds” isn’t used in British English, for example (although I suppose it could have been back then). A quick search suggests that “Modern Mechanics” was a US publication. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/10 "2013-10-20T01:23:42Z")
Used in Scotland 2009-2010, more among my classmates (25ish) than my coworkers (40sh), but then, more of my classmates smoked. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/11 "2013-10-20T01:58:59Z")
Definitely still in use. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/12 "2013-10-20T02:32:53Z")
In my experience it was used in the midwest to mean cigarettes at least through the first half of the 1960’s. It fell out of use as the other meaning became more common. ---
**Author:** ![Werekoala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7993a0/32.png) [@Werekoala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Werekoala)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/13 "2013-10-20T05:44:27Z")
FWIW my 38 year old fiancé uses it from time to time, but only in writing (texts, actually) - she never actually says it. I’ve never used it myself. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/14 "2013-10-20T08:02:04Z")
Thanks to all that replied. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/15 "2013-10-20T10:06:26Z")
Fags are cigarettes in NZ. We might get a titter using the word sometimes because of the American useage but mostly the instant thought is a smoke. Or a durrie among a select few. We also buy and enjoy fruit despite that being vernacular for shirt lifting. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/16 "2013-10-20T11:20:29Z")
Where I worked a couple of years ago, it was normal for the warehouse workers to take a fag break. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/17 "2013-10-20T11:31:05Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > We also buy and enjoy fruit despite that being vernacular for shirt lifting. I can’t figure out what this means. “Shirt lifting”, is that what we would call flashing? And people call out “enjoy [my] fruit!” while lifting their shirts? ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/18 "2013-10-20T12:01:27Z")
> [@aNewLeaf](#): > > I can’t figure out what this means. “Shirt lifting”, is that what we would call flashing? And people call out “enjoy [my] fruit!” while lifting their shirts? Shirt lifter is derogatory slang for a homosexual man. Ditto for fruit. Both are a bit old fashioned. Though I have heard shirt lifter in the wild. Liberace sucessfully sued the Daily Mail newspaper in England in the 1950s for saying he was a fruit/using some sort of fruity adjective about him. ---
**Author:** ![Girlundone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Girlundone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girlundone)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/19 "2013-10-20T14:34:55Z")
I recently heard fag used for cigarette. Because she was trying to quit, she had to sneak and “pinch a fag” from hubs’ packet. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688/20 "2013-10-20T15:04:55Z")
There is an old World War I song called, “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile”, that was sung in the trenches. ``` Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag, And smile, smile, smile, While you've a Lucifer to light your fag, Smile, boys, that's the style. What's the use of worrying? It never was worth while, so Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag, And smile, smile, smile. ``` I learned the song back in 7th grade in the 1970s at school. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-word-fag-cigarette-still-in-use/671688.md?page=2)