Ryan, a wildland firefighter from Asheville, North Carolina, asked about bagger, a derogatory term for “a lazy or amateur firefighter.” The term likely comes from military slang, where bagger is short for dirtbagger or S-bagger, most likely deriving from sandbagger or shitbagger, an expression that shows up at least as early as the 1940s and refers to someone who makes excuses or puts obstacles in the way of real work. The word appears to have moved from military jargon into firefighting slang, which is not surprising, given how many wildland firefighters are ex-military. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Bagger” Is Slang for a Lazy or Amateur Wildland Firefighter”
Hi.
You have A Way with Words.
Hi.
My name is Ryan.
I’m calling from Asheville, North Carolina.
I am a wildland firefighter, and we have a word.
The word is bagger, and we use it to describe other firefighters in a, I guess, derogatory way, meaning, like, lazy or unprofessional or maybe amateur.
So I’m curious if you guys have any ideas about the origin of the word.
So I’ve heard a few different explanations.
One being that it describes a firefighter that shows up to a camp and gets a a bagged lunch, and that’s all they really show up for.
And they don’t really do anything.
They kind of disappear, don’t put in any work.
I’ve also been told it’s kind of an older term that describes nonprofessional crews that just show up to fires just with the backpack on their back.
And then the third thing I’ve heard is it describes someone that shows up and attaches their bagged lunch to their belt.
So I’m curious if you guys have any ideas on that.
I hear your doubt as you recite the last one.
Yeah.
It’s it kinda sounds weird, but I think that’s a much older term or an idea, I guess, from before we had equipment to carry our bag launch, I guess.
All three of those supposed origins all really lack evidence, and they’re all not that great.
And they sound like they were just devised after the fact to try to explain the term.
For example, pretty much everybody who goes to a fire brings some kind of bag, don’t you?
When you’re out there, don’t you have your belongings in a container?
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
So the idea that this one particular group of people who brings a backpack, that they’re the ones that get called bagger just doesn’t seem right.
And as far as the bagged lunch goes, yeah, there are definitely people who go, all they’re there for is whatever minimum amount of money they’re going to make them, they find a way not to do the work.
That happens pretty much everywhere.
But I have something for you that I think, for me, is convincing that it doesn’t come from any of those possible origins.
And that is that forms of this term exist in the military.
And in the military, they seem to be older.
And in the military, a bagger, we’re talking about bagger, b a g g e r, is short for dirtbagger, or, let’s call it S-bagger, S-being the first letter of the word that means fecal matter, Or, of course, dirtbag or S-bag for short.
Obviously, the term isn’t S-bag.
It’s the thing I can’t say on the radio bag.
And in the military, especially the Navy, it has exactly the same meaning.
It’s the kind of person who is constantly trying to get out of work or not do the things that they’re capable of and just don’t want to.
And all of these are also probably from the much older sandbagger.
And a sandbagger, again, is somebody who just doesn’t do the job, or they always have excuses about why it’s not getting done.
And it’s especially because they’re perfectly capable of doing it.
They’re just like, Meh, I don’t want to.
So the idea is that you’re got these sandbags that you’re doing, putting them in the way of actually getting real work done.
And this, of course, goes back to at least the 1940s.
And so, sandbagger becomes dirtbagger and sbagger, and then just is clipped to bagger in the military before it even leaves that.
And as confirmed for me or anything, it’s true.
A lot of people who fight fires are ex military.
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
So I think that’s a really strong path for that to show up among firefighters.
To go from the military and leap over and be borrowed into the jargon and and language, the slaying of firefighting.
Very interesting.
I appreciate it.
Ryan, we’re grateful for your work.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you doing the hard stuff out there in a world of serious climate issues.
But and stay safe now.
And we know you’re not a bagger.
Thank you.
Pretty sure.
You take care.
Be safe out there.
All right, take care.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
See you.
We’re always eager to talk about language in the work place, and Bagger is a great example of that.
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