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Why do we capitalize SWAG


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21 minutes ago, mvhayes1982 said:

The threads on this forum about the quantity and quality (or lack thereof) swag in caches are numerous (and all exactly the same). 

My question is, why in the heck do we all capitalize SWAG every time we type it?

Just a Silly Wild A** Guess, but maybe it's Stuff We All Get?  :rolleyes:

Edited by skramble
system is censoring me :-/
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54 minutes ago, mvhayes1982 said:

My question is, why in the heck do we all capitalize SWAG every time we type it?

I wasn't aware that we all did

When all capitalized, it implies an acronym (take your pick which one). 

When not capitalized, there are still meanings that fit with geocaching.

Merriam-Webster has an interesting (short) article on its etymology in this sense, as does Snopes.

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We do not all capitalize swag.

And swag is not an acroynm, though it's fun to reverse engineer it (Small Wet Abandoned Gifts, is good) (Stale Watery And Good-for-nothing ); except to someone working at Geocaching HQ some years back. Once it got on the site, it continues to have legs here.

It's an old term with numerous meanings: loot as relates to piracy and theft, bundle of stuff (Oz), hence stuff - "the jolly swagman" (Waltzing Matilda)... and a bunch of drapery related meanings.

Edited by Isonzo Karst
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10 hours ago, mvhayes1982 said:

My question is, why in the heck do we all capitalize SWAG every time we type it?

We haven't seen all doing it.   

Similar to   Isonzo Karst maybe, I don't believe many think it's an acronym either.  :) 

 - It seems just another silly word, like Muggles, that stuck with the hobby.

There used to be some program thingy where certain site-specific words would be "fixed" when posted here  (capitals mostly), but guess that's changed ...  or at least my posts ...   If swag was meant to be all caps (I don't recall that...) , I'd think  it would have been  then.

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Just now, Manville Possum said:

 

In geocache talk it don't mean stolen loot though. Street talk, swag is low grade stuff. Kinda makes sense as to what I find left in geocaches.

In the article it doesn't mean it, either.  Maybe read the whole thing, then comment.  :bad:

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Many mean it and understand it as an acronym - even if it was originally (unbeknownst to them) a straightforward word.  So yeah, could be either in today's common use. But I mostly see it used in word form, though I mentally associate it iwth 'stuff we all get'. Depends who you talk to. But in geocaching terms, that's what the word refers to - stuff we all get. Generally speaking. There are exceptions. :P

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6 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

When I see SWAG in capitals, I think Stupid Wild-Assed Guess, a term from the software world.  (When will it be ready?  Lemme work up a SWAG for you.)

I've heard other variations of the acronym: Silly Wild-a** Guess, Scientific Wild-a** Guess, etc.

But Stuff We All Get, Small Wet Abandoned Gifts, and other variations are backronyms for the existing word swag.

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