While I respect wikipedia's opinion in this matter, it's entirely possible that the word (like most slang) has more than one origination. Given that promotional merchandise is not at all stollen or looted property but instead is often useless and overwhelming crap that after consideration you don't really want, I'm sticking to the definition provided by the industry pushers that have taken over my garage, my porch and my guest room. Yes, I'm annoyed about it and have gone far down a tunnel that was at best only tangentially related to the subject. That said, how deeply are we willing to explore the Vlad merchandise realm? I'm thinking that my server room needs a jhereg guard to assist the switch-blade bearing bunny that already resides there. I can also imagine a black t-shirt, an outline of Dzur Mountain on the back with a teaser Sethra quote "Do you know the difference between a wizard and a sorcerer?" or "Dead isn't as simple and straightforward as you think." Johne Cook <johne.cook at gmail.com> wrote: On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 14:09:52 -0800 (PST), Shannon Wimberly wrote: > > An aside: My gaming merchandizer husband tells me that in the promotional > sense, swag is actually an acronym. It's short for (S)hit (W)e (A)ll (G)et. > It took a moment for me to adjust to the idea of swag as something I would > actually pay for. We're awash in promotional swag at my house. Anyone want > a Playstation pen? How about a box of them? Wikipedia comments on that theory in this way: "Some people suggest that it is an acronym for shit we all get, but this is not supported by the fact it is very often spelled schwag or shwag; more likely derived from swag in the sense of stolen or scavenged loot as above." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . johne cook wisconsin, usa johne.cook at gmail.com / jcook at apostate.com http://www.phywriter.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! – Get yours free!