# I am confused: question about festoons.



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

I have noticed in the past few weeks that people of the younger generation have started talking about ornamental arrangements or festoons of fruits and flowers and greenery etc. and I have been wondering why on earth this has become such a big topic. Does the word "swag" sound familiar to anyone here and could you perhaps fix my confusion and answer my question? I have been baffled for quite a while.


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## Ramako (Apr 28, 2012)

Perhaps this might help :lol:


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

He wants a human being to give him the answer when he asks for it! Even though its still through the filtration of a computer screen.

Swag? I've never heard it before in this context...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

clavichorder said:


> He wants a human being to give him the answer when he asks for it! Even though its still through the filtration of a computer screen.
> 
> Swag? I've never heard it before in this context...


Maybe _@COAG_ means _swatch?_ 'Swag' is an archaic slang for money...


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

The kids today are digging that neo-classical architecture, innit.









Swag has long meant an abundance, a swag in a curtain is more curtain than is strictly necessary, used for decoration. Swag has meant stuff, think jolly swagman who was a guy who carried his stuff around with him, also meant stolen property, also meant money, possessions as mentioned above. Now has come to be generalised to mean style, appearance or attitude.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I believe that swag, aka S.W.A.G. had another meaning for the gay community in the 60s or 50s or something.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

"Swag" is a popular phrase in certain rap scenes, most notably trap and cloud rap. Rappers like Lil B, Soulja Boy Tellem and the Odd Future group (and all their incredibly annoying fans) use it a lot, and in that context it usually denotes coolness, swagger etc. One dictionary definition of swag is "festoon of flowers, fruit and greenery" and I suppose some tragically hip sort-of-post-modernist-but-a-little-bit-too-thick-to-do-it-with-any-sincerity blogger type person (or someone from 4chan/reddit/9gag) found it and started using it as some high-larious interwebs joke for people who are just as sort-of-post-modernist(...) as he is.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Also, when I was doing my conservation work in Mt. Rainier National Park, I received a cool back-pack/stuff-sack hybrid, and we called them our "Swag Bags" and supposedly that came about somehow before "swag" was a thing for rappers.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> Also, when I was doing my conservation work in Mt. Rainier National Park, I received a cool back-pack/stuff-sack hybrid, and we called them our "Swag Bags" and supposedly that came about somehow before "swag" was a thing for rappers.


Swag is also slang for loot, which is often used to mean "free stuff" these days. A stereotypical cartoon thief in a black and white horizontal striped shirt with a cap and eye mask usually carries a sack marked "SWAG" or something like that.

The English language is wonderful.


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