swag

[Ben Zimmer]

On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 6:00 AM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>
> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 04:53:29AM -0500, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> > Wilson may correct me on this, but is one of Obama's aides Australian?
> >
> > http://goo.gl/NSFEq
> > >Internal Revenue Service mugs and Homeland Security sweatshirts may
> > >soon become collector’s items.
> > >
> > >President Obama is set to unveil an executive order on Wednesday aimed
> > >at cutting wasteful spending on excess travel, printing, cell phones
> > >and government “swag.”
> > >
> > >The swag under fire includes plaques, clothing, mugs and other
> > >agency-identified items distributed to employees.
> >
> > The closest I see in OED is
> >
> > >11. A great quantity of something (now chiefly Austral. and N.Z.); a
> > >large draught of liquor (dial.). (Cf. Sc. swack.)
> >
> > The next closest is
>
> Scroll down to the end, to sense a. in the Draft Additions September
> 2008: "colloq. Items given away free, typically for promotional
> purposes, to people attending an event, using a service, etc.", from
> 1961-

You can also find the relevant sense in the latest editions from
American Heritage and Oxford Dictionaries (i.e., NOAD and ODE):

http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=swag
http://english.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/swag

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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