Miseducation 101: Swag & Swagger

It never ceases to amaze me how miseducated people tend to be. I'm never surprise when being cool, "with it" or "in" overshadows the desire for proprietary knowledge. It seems now-a-days every one has a penchant to have SWAGGER or poses SWAG but I doubt they really know what it means.

When I think of the word swagger, what immediately comes to mind is P.Diddy. I remember when Diddy did the "Making The Band 2" show and selected the members his reason for choosing Dylan(pictured left) was, "(he) has that swagger".

Looking into that, Diddy did not particularly care for Dylan, and I'm pretty sure that people, who viewed the show, perceived Dylan as thinking he was better than he actually was - Dylan was only great IN HIS MIND.

The word swagger is derived from the word swag. Swag has several meanings, i.e. sway, sink, sag, stolen property, loot, or to walk in an uncontrollable drunken like manner. When the word swagger was began to be used it was to describe the actions of a bully or person that was arrogant.

Definition:
Swagger - To walk or conduct oneself in a boldly rude, disrespectful, arrogant air; To brag; boast;

or simply put CONCEITED...

Don't get me wrong, I know the way those words are used now is slang. The problem is slang does not redefine words. Like the word HATER, the definition is relatively the same (one who hates), its just a blown out of proportion view, and an overly used term. Even in the case of the slang use of "HOT" or relative words like "fiyah" (fire) or flame. The slang use of those words are based off the literal definition of "giving off heat". When something is "HOT" its catchy, it spreads. When you say something is hot, it means it has the characteristics of fire, heat, spice.

SO WHAT AM I GETTING AT?

The "urban"/slang definition of swagger is, how one presents him or her self to the world, how the person handles a situation. An appearance of self-confidence. Prideful, Arrogant walk or stride. Right away I notice the words self-confidence and pride. That gives the word a whole new definition. I mean, can you be confident AND conceited AT THE SAME TIME? There is also an "urban" definition of the word swag, which simply means style. Now that's more correct in meaning. The only unimposed question to this definition is, what king of style?

I guess, if I had no immediate correlation of the word swag/swagger being connected to the word conceited, then maybe, I too, would exclaim my swagger to the world; Or maybe this is the direction of our society. Maybe its cool to be cocky, conceited, loud, obnoxious, self-consumed, arrogant, vain, narcissistic, and full of hot air...

but I'm straight on that.

That's why I'm forever unabashed, which means poised, brazen, and shameless - keep your swag.