i received an email from a reader from a reader
regarding my use of the word ‘schwag’ to refer to the contents of
the snowdeal store stating that , much to my surprise, it wasn’t a word:

“There is no such word as “schwag”.

The proper term is: swag

 

n 1: (informal) valuable goods 2: goods or money obtained illegally [syn: loot, booty, pillage, plunder, prize] v 1: droop, sink, or settle from or as if from pressure or loss of tautness [syn: sag, droop, flag] 2: walk as if unable to control one’s movements [syn: stagger, reel, keel, lurch, careen] 3: sway heavily or unsteadily

As a longtime fan of the word swag, I hate to see it corrupted. I hope you will share my concern.”

now, i’ll admit to doing zero research before using the term ‘schwag’. when i used the word, i was thinking of the colloquialism that i had heard during my youthful days of indescretion to indicate poor quality marijuana – as in, “dude, that’s schwag weed.” [ not that i had anything to do with the purchase or consumption of said schwag weed, of course ]. i thought i had heard people say the word ‘schwag’ in reference to poor quality tchotchkes, like those you may or may not find in the snowdeal store. i thought it was a simple case of reappropriating a euphamism and didn’t think twice about it. and now, i find that it might not be a word at all. but after doing a little digging, i’m more confused than ever.

a simple googlefight show that swag beats schwag hands down [ and even more dubiously, i discover that the snowdeal store is in the top five results for ‘schwag’ ]. and dictionary.com has a reference for swag but not
schwag. inquiring minds want to know – could i have wrong all these years?

but things aren’t so simple. no less an authority as wired has used the word schwag and the urban dictionary has references to both ‘swag’ and ‘schwag’ where a few of the definitions of schwag sounds appropriate:

“any product or thing of poor quality masking itself as
a viable product.

Aquanet is the shwag of the hair care world, and Spam is the
schwag of the meat world.“

so which is it, ‘swag’ or ‘schwag’?