In Australia and the UK, some folks refer to a newspaper as a rag, and I am curious how this term was coined.
Although most people would ask for a newspaper, I have gone around asking "Have you got a copy of today's rag?" today and only one out of twelve people I asked (I asked in coffee shops and the like) didn't know what I meant straight away.
I am trying to make a connection – dirty rag, newspaper commonly used to pack stuff or for cleaning (not a good idea anyhow) but I am stumped as the actual origins of the word.
Best Answer
The origin of this use of the word goes back to the seventeenth century. The OED’s entry for it comes under the category rag used in ‘Senses relating to something compared to a torn piece of cloth’. It is quite possible that early newspapers bore just such a resemblance.