The Origin of the Term 'Rags'

[GortonBlue62]

OED says earliest use of the word jamrag is in the 1860s...

jam-rag, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary

jam-rag, n. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

www.oed.com

It's inconceivable that City fans haven't used this as a pejorative term prior to the post war story about the scum's tatty kit.

They always be used sanitary towels to me, the rag bastards.

 

[Bill Walker]

There is a convoluted story about United being called the Rags involving them not being able to afford proper kits far back in time but I'm not at all convinced by this. I can't recall them being called Rags in the 60s & 70s but maybe in the 80s I can remember them being referred to as the Jam Rags (used tampons in Manchester parlance) & I've always thought that was the start of the Rags nickname.

Am I on my own with this?

Is it just City fans that calls them rags, or other club supporters?



It wasn't a thing when I used to watch City in the late 60's/70's

 

[urban genie]

OED says earliest use of the word jamrag is in the 1860s...

jam-rag, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary

jam-rag, n. meanings, etymology, pronunciation and more in the Oxford English Dictionary

www.oed.com

It's inconceivable that City fans haven't used this as a pejorative term prior to the post war story about the scum's tatty kit.

They always be used sanitary towels to me, the rag bastards.

It was covered early in this thread, they were calld the rags originally due to to being unable to afford kits
myself and other posters have confirmed famitly members using it in the 50s/60s
The reason it became used less is because and let us be honest, most fans started to refer to them as Munichs in the 70s/80s, since such is now taboo the old slang for them has resurged.

I had never heard the jam part before rags untill this thread, always called them rags since being a kit (like my dad did) andn was always about them playing in potato sacks or our hand me downs.

I am sure in the 80s some did use jam rags as the term rags was new to them and jamrag was then an acceptable slang word for tampons so natural to assume rags was a shortened version

so ot seems
pre 70s it was about them being peasants
80s resurgence in the term both the above and also slang for them being tampons.

Either way it is a unique term we use that they hate (though claim they don't) so all good :-)

 

[urban genie]

Is it just City fans that calls them rags, or other club supporters?



It wasn't a thing when I used to watch City in the late 60's/70's

Just us mainly I think

Like they called us magoos or bitters when no one else was.

 

[Vienna_70]

I rarely use it tbf, rags is my go to word for them.

Yeah, mine too.

It’s short, succinct and not offensive (as in not a swear word) and everyone knows to whom it refers.

 

[Vienna_70]

Is it just City fans that calls them rags, or other club supporters?



It wasn't a thing when I used to watch City in the late 60's/70's

Because then City supporters used the name of the city, where the air crash occurred.

After the home derby victory last season, someone in the gents on level three called them the 'M' word, and he was immediately shouted down by several of us.

 

[Vienna_70]

It was covered early in this thread, they were calld the rags originally due to to being unable to afford kits
myself and other posters have confirmed famitly members using it in the 50s/60s
The reason it became used less is because and let us be honest, most fans started to refer to them as Munichs in the 70s/80s, since such is now taboo the old slang for them has resurged.

I had never heard the jam part before rags untill this thread, always called them rags since being a kit (like my dad did) andn was always about them playing in potato sacks or our hand me downs.

I am sure in the 80s some did use jam rags as the term rags was new to them and jamrag was then an acceptable slang word for tampons so natural to assume rags was a shortened version

so ot seems
pre 70s it was about them being peasants
80s resurgence in the term both the above and also slang for them being tampons.

Either way it is a unique term we use that they hate (though claim they don't) so all good :-)

I’m sure I read in one of @Gary James' books that the term was started in the 30s by their own fans, in response to the fact that they were playing in old kits, but they didn’t like fans of other teams using the term.

 

[Gary James]

I’m sure I read in one of @Gary James' books that the term was started in the 30s by their own fans, in response to the fact that they were playing in old kits, but they didn’t like fans of other teams using the term.

Yep. Interviews I did with elderly fans in 1990s talked of the early 30s when they looked bedraggled. The stuff about City lending Utd kits and all of that is a relatively modern story that doesn’t add up. All football clubs made their kits last several seasons and Utd fans used the term first then City fans started to use it as an insult.

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

I was introduced a few years back to a rag via an equantence of mine (friends via music not football) and accepted his request to be a friend on Facebook.
He deleted me about a year later as he deemed the use of the term "rags" on par with using the "N" word and highly offensive.
Naturally I disagreed and used it even more. I then noticed I'd gone from his list of friends lol

 

[Vienna_70]

I was introduced a few years back to a rag via an equantence of mine (friends via music not football) and accepted his request to be a friend on Facebook.
He deleted me about a year later as he deemed the use of the term "rags" on par with using the "N" word and highly offensive.
Naturally I disagreed and used it even more. I then noticed I'd gone from his list of friends lol

What a soft twat.

To compare the 'N' word with "rags" is nothing short of disgusting.