drag (n.)
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:54 pm
Drag is a four-letter word that has multiple uses and meanings depending on context. The context I am thinking about is in regards to streets and vehicles which are tightly coupled.
Here is what I was musing about "The Johnson boy was caught drag racing down the main drag of town in his new dragster. Oh my, it will all end in tears."
Drag has been used as a description for sleds, carts, and wagons. The first motorized car or drag was invented in the late 1700s. The street is called a drag, main that is, was coined in the 1850s. Drag racing was coin probably earlier than later since even boys in horse draw carts race. I think there is a 1600s Greek or Latin root to this, but the reference alludes me now.
I know there is a wonderful coherent story to be told about all of these things that relate to one another. The slang dictionaries have lots of confusing notions about "drag" but what are "just the facts."
Is dressing in drag related. Naturally, when your doll is all decked out you want to take her for a promenade down the main drag. So are cloths referred to as drags? Rags? Thus, men dressing in drag.
Here is what I was musing about "The Johnson boy was caught drag racing down the main drag of town in his new dragster. Oh my, it will all end in tears."
Drag has been used as a description for sleds, carts, and wagons. The first motorized car or drag was invented in the late 1700s. The street is called a drag, main that is, was coined in the 1850s. Drag racing was coin probably earlier than later since even boys in horse draw carts race. I think there is a 1600s Greek or Latin root to this, but the reference alludes me now.
I know there is a wonderful coherent story to be told about all of these things that relate to one another. The slang dictionaries have lots of confusing notions about "drag" but what are "just the facts."
Is dressing in drag related. Naturally, when your doll is all decked out you want to take her for a promenade down the main drag. So are cloths referred to as drags? Rags? Thus, men dressing in drag.