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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 01 December 2008 - Volume 02<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);"><a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a></span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Etymology" 2008.11.30 (04) [E]</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">from heather rendall <a href="mailto:heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk" target="_blank">heatherrendall@tiscali.co.uk</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">re origins and other
meanings of 'rag'</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">How do any of you think the
English epression 'local rag' meaning 'local newspaper' might have got its
name? </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">I was wondering whether it
came from the fact that poor quality paper was made from rags? And so this
carried over to mean 'poor quality newspaper' and then got carried over again
to schools and colleges 'the college rag' i.e. magazine with the
meaning 'amateur paper / magazine'</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">And might this have also
been carried over to sheet music as a music rag i.e lesser quality music?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Heather</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">----------<br>
<br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank"><span class="yshortcuts"><span id="lw_1228148227_0">sassisch@yahoo.com</span></span></a>> <br>
Subject: Etymology<br>
<br>
Happy December, everyone, and a happy Advent season to those of you that celebrate
it!<br>
<br>
Interesting question about "rag" in this sense, Heather.<br>
<br>
I always assumed that "rag" just emphasized the worthlessness of "worthless
newspaper", something that might as well be thrown away.<br>
<br>
I believe that in Yiddish, too, you can refer to a worthless newspaper (and several
other things, such as a garment or a worthless document) as </span><span dir="rtl" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HE">שמאַטע</span><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="HE"><span dir="ltr"></span><span dir="ltr"></span>
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">(<i>shmate</i>) 'rag'. (<i>Iz
dos rikhtik, Leybl un andere khaveyrim?</i>) Well, at least <b>I</b> have been known to use the word that way in Yiddish. ;-) <i>Shmate</i> is one of those very
useful and ubiquitous Yiddish words that has found its way into Northeast American English
parlance as a straight loan as well.<br>
<br>
So perhaps we are dealing with a Yiddish calque (<i>shmate</i> > rag), possibly
one that started in North America. This would have
been an easy fit in that "rag" in the sense of "inferior garment" was probably in
English use already.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Reinhard/Ron</span></p>