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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
Bags
Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and shopping procedures have led me to speculate on the use of "bags" in juvenile language common WIWAL to denote staking a claim(1). The results of a cursory search indicate that the usage may still have some currency:
l=en&lr
.
It seems to require the subjunctive when followed by a verb ("Bags I be President!), but it can just as well take a substantive: "Bags I the blue one!" I've not managed to unearth any reference in the sources I have to hand, and it seems not to have cropped up earlier in AUE or UCLE.
Is it still common? Purely British? Regional? Anyone care to hazard an etymology? Or a parts-of-speech analysis?
(1) For those unfamiliar with the expression: in our schoolboy honour code, one could stake one's claim to something desirable by being the first to shout "Bags!". The pronoun was optional: "Bags bat first!" or "Bags the big slice!".
Noel
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l=en&lr
.
It seems to require the subjunctive when followed by a verb ("Bags I be President!), but it can just as well take a substantive: "Bags I the blue one!" I've not managed to unearth any reference in the sources I have to hand, and it seems not to have cropped up earlier in AUE or UCLE.
Is it still common? Purely British? Regional? Anyone care to hazard an etymology? Or a parts-of-speech analysis?
(1) For those unfamiliar with the expression: in our schoolboy honour code, one could stake one's claim to something desirable by being the first to shout "Bags!". The pronoun was optional: "Bags bat first!" or "Bags the big slice!".
Noel
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Top answer
[nq:1]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and shopping procedures have led me to speculate on the use ... [/nq] Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.
- [nq:1]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and shopping procedures have led me to speculate on the use ...
- [/nq] Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice.
- I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.
- [nq:1]Is it still common?
- Purely British?
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85 Answers
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[nq:1]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and shopping procedures have led me to speculate on the use ... in the sources I have to hand, and it seems not to have cropped up earlier in AUE or UCLE.[/nq]
Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.
[nq:1]Is it still common? Purely British?
Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.
[nq:1]Is it still common? Purely British?
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Noel Ildhund:
[nq:2]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and ... language common WIWAL to denote staking a claim(1).[/nq]
Richard Fontana:
[nq:1]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is
[nq:2]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and ... language common WIWAL to denote staking a claim(1).[/nq]
Richard Fontana:
[nq:1]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is
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[nq:1]Noel Ildhund: Richard Fontana:[/nq]
[nq:2]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
[nq:1]Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is that used?[/nq]
I've thought of it as semi-archaic (an older generation's word) since first becoming aware of it as a c
[nq:2]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
[nq:1]Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is that used?[/nq]
I've thought of it as semi-archaic (an older generation's word) since first becoming aware of it as a c
00
[nq:1]Recent threads on such diverse topics as ecclesiastical Latin and shopping procedures have led me to speculate on the use ... to denote staking a claim(1). The results of a cursory search indicate that the usage may still have some currency:[/nq]
http://groups-beta.google.c
http://groups-beta.google.c
00
[nq:2]be President!), but it can just as well take a substantive: "Bags I[/nq]
[nq:1]Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.[/nq]
Good Lord, did I? I was just about to add to this thread, but probably I'd only be repeating myself.
I think we were sufficiently ungrammatical to say "Bags me" most of the ti
[nq:1]Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.[/nq]
Good Lord, did I? I was just about to add to this thread, but probably I'd only be repeating myself.
I think we were sufficiently ungrammatical to say "Bags me" most of the ti
00
[nq:2]Has been discussed in AUE, briefly, once or twice. I recollect that Katy Edgcombe said something about it a few years ago.[/nq]
[nq:1]Good Lord, did I? I was just about to add to this thread, but probably I'd only be repeating myself. ... most of the time. "Bags me be first" "Bags me the yellow one" but "Bags I go to the shop"[/nq]
It's also used as a transitive verb, "bag", as in "H
[nq:1]Good Lord, did I? I was just about to add to this thread, but probably I'd only be repeating myself. ... most of the time. "Bags me be first" "Bags me the yellow one" but "Bags I go to the shop"[/nq]
It's also used as a transitive verb, "bag", as in "H
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[nq:1]It's also used as a transitive verb, "bag", as in "Here we are - I'll park the car, you go in and bag us some seats."[/nq]
This I think could be used in AmE.
This I think could be used in AmE.
00
[nq:2]Good Lord, did I? I was just about to add ... the yellow one" but "Bags I go to the shop"[/nq]
[nq:1]It's also used as a transitive verb, "bag", as in "Here we are - I'll park the car, you go in and bag us some seats." Past tense includes "bagged", "baggsed" and "baggsied".[/nq]
Good thinking, first one at the pub had better bag seats.
Laura
(emulate St. George for email
[nq:1]It's also used as a transitive verb, "bag", as in "Here we are - I'll park the car, you go in and bag us some seats." Past tense includes "bagged", "baggsed" and "baggsied".[/nq]
Good thinking, first one at the pub had better bag seats.
Laura
(emulate St. George for email
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[nq:1]Noel Ildhund: Richard Fontana:[/nq]
[nq:2]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
[nq:1]Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is that used?[/nq]
I grew up in California with this usage. There are also limited circumstances where it can be elided, e
[nq:2]It's unknown in America.[/nq]
[nq:1]Indeed. The parallel term I know is "dibs", as in "Dibs on the front seat!" (asserting a new claim) or "I have dibs on the front seat" (asserting an existing claim). Now, how widely is that used?[/nq]
I grew up in California with this usage. There are also limited circumstances where it can be elided, e
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[nq:1]I grew up in California with this usage. There are also limited circumstances where it can be elided, e.g. "shotgun!" to claim the front passenger seat of the car (where the guy not driving the stagecoach sat carrying a shotgun to fend off the injuns).[/nq]
I think we've mentioned before that "shotgun!" has among British youth now extended its meaning to cover the whole territory of "bag
I think we've mentioned before that "shotgun!" has among British youth now extended its meaning to cover the whole territory of "bag
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