Swag?

[+Birdsong-n-Bud]

What is "SWAG" an acronym for, please?

[+rusty_tlc]

The noun "swag" has 3 senses in WordNet.

 

1. swag -- (valuable goods)

2. loot, booty, pillage, plunder, prize, swag, dirty money -- (goods or money obtained illegally)

3. swag -- (a bundle containing the personal belongings of a swagman)

 

In the engineering world we use SWAG to mean Sweet Wild A** Guess.

Edited November 15, 2004 by rusty_tlc

[+RichardMoore]

What is "SWAG" an acronym for, please?

It's not an acronym, it's an old pirate word for treasure, booty, plunder, etc.

Okay, maybe not just pirates, but it sounds more adventurous that way.

[beebot]

Swag is the collection of Trade Items cachers carry.

 

But if it was an acronym in the geocaching world, perhaps it would be:

Something We Always Give (no wait, that would be like a Signature Item)

 

Stuff We Always Get

[+briansnat]

It has been used as a term for free stuff (giveaways) for some time. It's a fairly common American slang term. Some people have said its an acronym for "stuff we all get", however in 19th century British thieves' slang, swag was a thief's plunder or booty or a quantity of goods unlawfully acquired'. The term appears in Grose's 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, where one of the definitions is "any quantity of goods".

 

James Hardy Vaux, who was a convict in Australia, includes the term in the slang dictionary compiled in 1812 and published in his Memoirs in 1819: "The Swag is a term used in speaking of any booty you have lately obtained". In Australia the term swag was transferred from the quantity of goods acquired by a thief to the possessions carried by a traveller in the bush. I guess the "Jolly swagman" in the Aussie song, Waltzing Matilda is an example of the latter usage.

 

Checking my Webster's 9th New Collegiate Dictionary, among the definitions of swag are "goods obtained illegally" and "loot". My guess is the the current meaning has evolved from this usage and the idea that its an acronym for "stuff we all get" is apocryphal and of recent vintage.

 

I'm not that smart, I just Google well

[+Cache us Clay]

I looked on the internet a while back on this, and I'm betting it's the slang definition of "booty" (the pirate kind). I also saw that there was an acronym definition of "Souvenirs, Wearables and Gifts".

[+Sputnik 57]

I'm not that smart, I just Google well

Don't let him try to fool you. He is that smart (and has over 10,000 posts!)

[Mr. TSP]

Somebody's Worthless Awful Garbage

[OkieRambler]

Another theme that is popular among some of us :

 

" 'Scientific' Wild A-- Guess "

[+NightPilot]

Yes, Scientific WAG, as opposed to just a WAG. A SWAG is less imprecise than a WAG. This has nothing to do with swag in a cache, although I might make a SWAG as to what swag I'll find in a cache I'm searching for, based on reading the cache page and logs. If I haven't read anything, then I can only make a WAG at what swag might be there.

Edited November 16, 2004 by NightPilot

[+Nurse Dave]

I always shake my head when I see a tread like this. One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to. Some people are silly.

[+Jeep_Dog]

  I always shake my head when I see a tread like this.  One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to.  Some people are silly.

Yeah, don't you just hate it when someone makes a post that had the same meaning as the one above it? Many of the questions barely would take a handful of words in one sentence to answer, yet scurvy dog cachers, free-lancers that they are, cause between 7 and 9 replies since they had to pipe in.

 

Some cachers can be ludicrous.

Edited November 16, 2004 by jeep_dog

[+AuntieWeasel]

  I always shake my head when I see a tread like this.  One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to.  Some people are silly.

The Groundspeak forums are the strangest dadgum place. I've never been to any forum that so panics when threads go off-topic or worries about asking questions that have been asked before or closes threads the moment a question is deemed sufficiently answered. It's particularly odd since this is a relatively low-traffic board, so bandwidth shouldn't be much of an issue. Honestly, you don't get a refund if you answer in six words instead of eight.

 

Relax. It's a conversation. They aren't charging by the electron. It's as much about building a community as answering the question.

[+RichardMoore]

They aren't charging by the electron.

Is that a high school science teacher joke?

[+Kitch]

I always shake my head when I see a tread like this. One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to. Some people are silly.

I regularly waggle my noggin' when I notice a topic like this. A easy inquiry that takes a short sentance to interprate and there are 9 flipping responses on account of the final guy didn't explain it completely the exact format the ensuing poster was thinking of doing.

 

A few beings are weird.

[+Sputnik 57]

I always shake my head when I see a tread like this. One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to. Some people are silly.

My noggin oscillates when I see sewing material used in this manner. A short interrogative seeking a simple declarative generates replies in the multiple digits, (some of which, in fact, frig) due to semantic variation in locution. Every good boy does fine.

[CoyoteRed]

Maybe it's just the circle I'm in, but it seems as though the term "trinkets" has fallen from favor. It's generally "swag" or "trades." I've even dropped using it unless I'm describing the hobby to an outsider.

 

Another thought cames to mind. Why "swag?" Considering by all definitions it is stuff you get, then why is the stuff we all leave also "swag?"

 

Just an observation I've made recently and has little to do with the conversation at hand.

 

Ignore as usual.

[4x4van]

I use the term "Geo-Loot"

[+rusty_tlc]

  I always shake my head when I see a tread like this.  One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to.  Some people are silly.

I regularly waggle my noggin' when I notice a topic like this. A easy inquiry that takes a short sentance to interprate and there are 9 flipping responses on account of the final guy didn't explain it completely the exact format the ensuing poster was thinking of doing.

 

A few beings are weird.

Lets watch the first few replies on instant replay;

First the original inquiry:

...

Then the every helpful Rusty's reply which provided more than enough information.

....

Next RM chimes in notice that the time stamp on his reply is very close to rustys, Richard is almost as helpful as rusty but a little slower on the switch.

...

Finally beebot post, twenty minutes later.

...

 

From this point on it's all rhetoric.

[+RichardMoore]

Next RM chimes in notice that the time stamp on his reply is very close to rustys, Richard is almost as helpful as rusty but a little slower on the switch.

...

I keep saying that I've got to learn to type faster.

[+Birdsong-n-Bud]

Somebody's Worthless Awful Garbage

 

LOL!

 

Thanks, everyone. I can't believe I've gone 40 years without having heard the term "swag" ...until geocaching. I guess this is the only time I ever got to loot pirate bootie!

[+briansnat]

I always shake my head when I see a tread like this. One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to. Some people are silly.

Did ya ever think that some people might see the question a respond to it without paging down to see if there are already responses?

[beebot]

Did ya ever think that some people might see the question a respond to it without paging down to see if there are already responses?

AND there could be several people all responding to the original post at the same time, but each "hit the POST button" at different times - making it look like everyone was just trying to reword the last answer a little better/different.

 

Just pointing out the not so obvious.

[+Nurse Dave]

  I always shake my head when I see a tread like this.  One simple question that takes *one* one line answer and there are friggin 8 replies because the last person didn't word it exactly the same way the next person was going to.  Some people are silly.

Did ya ever think that some people might see the question a respond to it without paging down to see if there are already responses?

Yup, that's a little silly!

[+Kitch]

couldn't get it to fit in the ammo box

[+ValleyRat & TillyMouse]

Yeh, but really, all kidding aside, What is it?

[+Cachew]

I think its similar to SWAG MAR: Scientific Wild A** Guess - Made At Random.