blue jacking
n.— «At the age of 10 he sold newspapers in downtown Toledo.…They didn’t have a normal paper route like most kids, delivering to the same house every day in nice, quiet neighborhoods. This young boy and his friend, Louie, did what was known as blue jacking and their territory happened to be skid row. They carried a canvas sack filled with the Toledo Blade. The bag weighed almost as much as they did. They went form bar to bar. If they couldn’t sell a newspaper, they’d shine shoes. If that didn’t work, they’d dance to music on the jukebox hoping the drunks and semi-drunks on skid row would throw nickels and dimes at them.» —by Rick Johnson Leading the Pack: Model Driven Leadership for the 21st Century June 30, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Miley in The Dalles, Oregon, asks about going gunny bags meaning to “break down” or “go haywire.” Her mother uses this expression, but has no idea where she picked it up. The term gunny sack, referring to a bag made of coarse material such as jute...
Chris in San Antonio, Texas, a professional musician, asks where the word gig comes from. While gig is now the standard term for a musical engagement and has broadened to any short-term job, its early origins are murky. It may be related to the term...