Source: Speak Up
Standard: British and American Accent
Language Level: Basic
In the Bag
A bag is a container usually made of paper, plastic or leather. Bags come in all sizes and types: small handbags for women, plastic shopping bags, shoulder bags and travel bags, such as suitcases. Bags are everywhere and this could explain why the word “bag” appears in a number of colourful phrases. An example? If we leave early in order to get to an appointment, then we can relax as we will have enough time to get there. In fact we say that we have bags of time.
If we are confident that something will happen, then we can say that it’s in the bag. If a soccer team like Chelsea – or Manchester United – has a 10 points lead at the top of the premiership. Then we can say the team has the title in the bag.
BAD NEWS
The word bag can also be used negatively, however. If you reveal a secret, then you let the cat out of the bag. The cat is not the feline type: it is the “cat’n’ nine tails,” a whip that was used for punishing sailors in the Royal Navy. Usually it was kept in a bag. If you “let the cat out of the bag,” then you report on another sailor and he will be punished.
British slang has even more negatively “bag” examples. A woman who is no longer young and attractive and who also has an unpleasant personality is known as an old bag. In 1967 Hollywood Star Jayne Mansfield was still only 34. She met the Beatle Paul McCartney, who was only 24. He described her as “an old bag.” The poor woman was killed in a car crash later that year.
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