In the Bag

Posted by RRC on September 24, 2008 at 05:58

In Reply to: In the Bag posted by ESC on September 24, 2008 at 00:05:

: : The origin of "In the Bag"

: : Having studied politics and visited the House of Commons I was lead to beleive that the saying "in the bag" originated from a bag which sits behind the speaker of the house. For Prime Ministers question time, an MP would submit his question to the PM by placing it in the bag. Henceforth when constituents or journelists would ask an MP if they had asked the PM a question on a specific subjct they would respond, "Its in the bag". No idea on dates for this however.

: Well, I heard a Kentucky lawmaker use the phrase "in the bag" and he meant drunk. I am guessing that referred to the brown paper bag that people use to conceal their liquor. But that's a whole 'nother meaning.

As you can read on this site, the phrase with that meaning first shows up in America in the 1920's. Tour guides are well known around here to be sources of completely unfounded information when it comes to word and phrase origins.

• In the Bag James Briggs 24/September/08
  • In the Bag Smokey Stover 27/September/08