refugee bag

n. a cheaply made sack of woven nylon fibers, usually with a squarish shape, handles, and a striped, plaid, or checked appearance Subjects: English, Colloquial

Editorial Note: A picture of a refugee bag can be seen here.

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Citations: 1998 Peter Forwood, Kay Forwood Round The World Trip on a Harley-Davidson Motorcycle (June 24) “Planning The Fourth Section”: All packed into a refugee bag (those large striped bags for a couple of dollars that you throw away when you arrive). [2005 [longcat] Thoughts of a Longcat (London, England) (Sept. 2) “Brighton Bound”: The looks you get holding one of these plastic bags—i-bags as me & josiah call them now, avoiding the name cedric nash gave them awhile ago—you know those bags that you see people holding when they cross a border point, fleeing their country, refugee bags then in fact rather than immigrant bags.] 2005 [Euan] The Common Journal (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) (Nov. 16) “Thoughts on living here again…”: So this morning we’ll be off to Wal-Mart to pick up a refugee bag (one of those lurid colored nylon bags you always see Asian tourists with) and use that 4th piece of luggage allowance to bring it back. 2005 Greta Gouda’s Cheesewheel (Boulder, Colorado) (Dec. 21) “Refugee Bags”: Refugee Bags…I was trying to explain this concept to my friend Erik. These are the bags that everyone uses to go shopping in Morocco. They also use them for travelling if they don’t have actual luggage. 2005 Peter Forwood, Kay Forwood Travel Through Bahrain on a Harley-Davidson (Dec. 31) “Coming from the U.A.E.”: A two week visa on arrival for $US 14.00, cursory customs, only interested in why we had so many motorcycle parts, and again concerned about why a tourist would be using the disposable red, white and blue refugee bags for their luggage, because we have to have disposable luggage. 2006 007 In Africa (Apr. 27) “Back to Kinshasa, my beloved” (in Democratic Republic of Congo): I come back to utter chaos in the airport; trying to elbow un-chivalrous men out of my way so I can pick up my and my suitcases (including my colleagues’ Refugee bags full of dripping goat blood attracting flies). 2006 Rosalie Higson The Australian (Sydney, Australia) (June 2) “Welcome to the contact zone”: In Rakena’s video, everyone is wearing bags, sometimes referred to as refugee bags. “Those large, striped, plastic bags,” Rakena says. “They’re used all over the Pacific because they’re cheap and easy to move.”

Posted 7 Jun 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend