Friday, January 13, 2012

Reader Asks: What is Swag?


Below is an actual e-mail chain between myself and the blogger formerly known as Pennypacker (what a horrible name, every time I type it out I cringe). For those of you who know him, this is just par for the course, for those of you who don't, a brief explanation. This is a man who doesn't have a Facebook page, who reported the Bill O'brien to Penn State news 72 hours after the actual press announcement, and who I'm fairly certain has never gotten a single one of my Chilean miner jokes because I'm not even sure he knows what happened yet. Simply put this is a man who, by and large, ignores the comings and goings of the world as the rest of us know it. Without further ado:


From:        Penny
To:        
CW
Date:        
01/12/2012 12:36 PM
Subject:        


Can u give me a quick run down on the word swag? Or shwag or schwag or something? 


ME: On Jan 12, 2012 12:39 PM, <CW> wrote:  Ha, sure. Swag is short for swagger, its become a very versatile word in 2011, but mainly it describes someone's coolness in how they carry or present themselves. If you're trying to measure swag its mainly about confidence, style and demeanor.

 
From:        Penny
To:      CW
Date:        01/12/2012 01:52 PM
Subject:        
Re:

  What about when ppl are giving away shwag? 


ME: Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:49 PM, <CW> wrote:
Well that's different...S.W.A.G the acronym is Stuff We All Get...that's been around for a long time...the swag more commonly heard now is swag' short for swagger


Two different things.

 
From:      Penny
To:       
CW
Date:        01/12/2012 01:52 PM
Subject:        
Re:


ok i gotcha ive seen the s.w.a.g. one spelled shwag which confused me cuz it's wrong


ME: On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:53 PM, <CW> wrote:
Yea that doesn't make sense, sounds like more of an ironic spelling of s.w.a.g, which incidentally would raise the s.w.a.g giver's actual swag, since irony and hipster cool are so prevalent these days.