I learned a lot of lessons from my Mom. One of them is about words and using them appropriately. My Mom was an English teacher for more than 35 years. When she uses a word she uses it exactly as it is defined. She listens this way too, by the way. You have to choose, and use, your words carefully with her. If you use a word in a way other then it is intended and defined she will think you meant something else entirely.
Now growing up I always knew swag to mean a type of curtain. When I was in my thirties I learned that swag could also mean “Stuff We All Get” at a event such as a convention or trade show, or “plunder, booty” or “goods, valuables”.
And most recently (this morning) my favorite meaning of the word swag – “Scientific (or Silly) Wild Ass Guess”. I LOVE that one!
Last night I was sitting talking with my 15 year old and one of his friends. They kept using the word swag in a way that didn’t make any sense to me, so I asked them about it. My son told me that the word was basically multifunctional and could mean a variety of things depending on how it was used. At first he likened it to the word aloha, which means hello and goodbye, but said it could mean more than two things. I tried getting a better explanation and couldn’t. I’d have had better luck figuring out what some web statistics mean before I understand how they’re using this word.
I looked online and couldn’t find any site describing the word swag being used the way the teenagers were using it. My browser’s history, which is basically personal website tracking is now full of pages from different dictionaries. Two hours looking and I still don’t get it. Have you heard of the word swag being used in an unusual or new way?
I wonder how people use words in new ways. I come from a childhood where I was taught to use words as they were defined. If I could figure this out I’d have a better idea of how words evolve, which I’ve always been kind of curious about.
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Slang has been around for a long time. In an old John Wayne western, I heard that a handgun was called a “hogleg” in the old west. Another movie that emphasized slang was “Ball of Fire” with Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper, where Cooper is an encyclopedia professor writing an entry for slang. I don’t know how these words develop, but I think they come from the more benighted of our populous.
Thanks for the word of advice for your mother. I will watch my p’s and q’s and use only the best grammar when writing comments on her blog.
My MOm once corrected my Dad’s love letter in red pen. LOL!
Words evolve with scientific discovery/need, use, misuse, pronunciation, and creativity. Look how many acronyms, really abbeviations, are considered words. Times change as does language.