# What Does "Fag" Mean In This Context? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986 "2006-12-20T23:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/1 "2006-12-20T23:20:55Z")
From an account in an Indian newpaper of a man being sentenced for murder. > [@](#): > > He was found guilty of shooting down Jessica at socialite Bina Ramani’s ‘Tamarind Court’ restaurant near Qutab Minar here on the night of April 29, 1999 for refusing to serve him liquor as a bartender at the \*\*fag \*\*end of a party there. [Link.](http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061221/main1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/2 "2006-12-20T23:22:29Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/3 "2006-12-20T23:25:40Z")
From [answers.com](http://answers.com): > [@](#): > > fag end > n. > > 1. The frayed end of a length of cloth or rope. > 2. > 1. An inferior or worn-out remnant. > 2. The last part: “the fag end of this crisis-ridden century” (Wallace Irwin, Jr.). > > [Middle English fagge, fag, broken thread in cloth, something that hangs loose.] ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/4 "2006-12-20T23:28:09Z")
Adding: so I guess the fag end of a cigarette comes from the earlier meanings, given that cigarettes are relatively recent. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/5 "2006-12-20T23:34:16Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/6 "2006-12-20T23:53:57Z")
So I got the chronology/etomology exactly backwards in my post? Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/7 "2006-12-21T00:16:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/8 "2006-12-21T00:38:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/9 "2006-12-21T00:46:05Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] 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. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![ywine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/49beb7/32.png) [@ywine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ywine)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/10 "2006-12-21T00:55:28Z")
I always thought fag (cigarette) came from faggot, meaning a stick with a burnt-out end. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/11 "2006-12-21T01:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] 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. [/QUOTE] I’m just going on the [dictionary.com](http://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. ---
**Author:** ![jlrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@jlrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlrepka)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/12 "2006-12-21T01:42:57Z")
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_! ---
**Author:** ![jlrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/22d042/32.png) [@jlrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlrepka)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/13 "2006-12-21T01:52:25Z")
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_! ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/14 "2006-12-21T09:49:35Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] IAnd how would we factor fag/faggot=homosexual and fag=drudge into this etymological muddle? [/QUOTE] “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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fag_%28personal_servant%29). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/15 "2006-12-21T14:23:06Z")
Both Collins dictionary and the Cassell Dictionary of Slang say that the cigarette sense of “fag” is a back formation from “fag end”. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/16 "2006-12-21T14:24:42Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] “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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fag_%28personal_servant%29). [/QUOTE] Hmmm, I’m pretty sure **samclem** will have something to say about that… ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/17 "2006-12-21T15:01:18Z")
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: > [@](#): > > “She was terrified by the sight of the flaming faggots.” ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-fag-mean-in-this-context/384986/18 "2006-12-21T17:54:41Z")
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!” 🙂