From an account in an Indian newpaper of a man being sentenced for murder.
A fag is a cigarette. A fag end is the little stub of cigarette left after mostly smoking a cigarette. I’d wager that in this context, it’s the few minutes leading up to closing time of the bar, in the sense of “what little remains”.
From answers.com:
Adding: so I guess the fag end of a cigarette comes from the earlier meanings, given that cigarettes are relatively recent.
Thanks!
So I got the chronology/etomology exactly backwards in my post? Interesting.
Possibly, or possibly cigarettes are called fags because they are something that hangs loose from the lips. I’m not saying that’s correct, mind, but only that it could possibly be either way.
Hmm, I always assumed that fag meaning “cigarette” came from shortening faggot (in the original sense, i.e. a tightly packed bundle of stuff), which would make sense. But apparently not. A curious example of an etymological false friend.
It still might have though. And how would we factor fag/faggot=homosexual and fag=drudge into this etymological muddle? I wish I had an OED handy.
I always thought fag (cigarette) came from faggot, meaning a stick with a burnt-out end.
I’m just going on the dictionary.com etymology, “possibly from Vulgar Latin *facus, from Greek phakelos, bundle” for faggot/fagot versus the seemingly different origin “fagge”, to droop or something which droops, which you mentioned.
from The Simpsons…
Martin Prince, illustrating the concept of strength in numbers: "Individually we are like these twigs, easily broken (picks up twig and breaks it), but together (picks up a bundle of sticks) we are a mighty faggot!
from The Simpsons…
Martin Prince, illustrating the concept of strength in numbers: "Individually we are like these twigs, easily broken (picks up twig and breaks it), but together (picks up a bundle of sticks) we are a mighty faggot!
“Fag” meaning homosexual comes from 19th century English boarding school slang for a junior boy who acted as a servant for a senior boy. The noun came from the verb “to fag” meaning to work, to exhaust. More here.
Both Collins dictionary and the Cassell Dictionary of Slang say that the cigarette sense of “fag” is a back formation from “fag end”.
Hmmm, I’m pretty sure samclem will have something to say about that…
I was reading a book about Joan of Arc once, and contemporary writers spoke of her being brought into the courtyard, where the prosecutors tried to make her confess by faking a pyre on which to burn her:
Again, thanks for the replies. I have to admit, however, that I misread my cited article. I thought it said fag end of the bar, rather than gag end of the party. IOW, I was looking for a location in space, not time.
“Have you seem ny wife”?
“Yeah, she’s down at the fag end of the bar.”
“Shit! She’s not drunk, is she? I’ll never get her home!” 