Welcome. This is what my wife calls "a bunch of stupid jokes and pictures of paper bags." She's right about the jokes. She's wrong about the bags: some of them are plastic.

What the critics say: "Utterly unnotable" (Wikipedia editor). "Ridiculous collections #4" (Buzzfeed). Other comments: "As complete wastes of time go, it's a very high quality complete waste of time... An entirely dispensable source of inane comments about a truly trivial subject... A monument to the planet's worst corporate design... An unwelcome reminder of some of the more unpleasant moments in our lives."

Donations (unused, please) of bags not represented in the bag gallery are welcomed -- please mail to this address, and I'll credit you on this site! I am happy to trade any extras that I have. Check out the links to other bag sites, find out how you can use your spare bags, and explore the fascinating world of bag manufacturers. 

Highlights: The design features page reveals the secrets of professional baggery, and the logos page analyses the enigma of airline corporate identities. Search for your favourite bag, browse the bag gallery by country and airline, and check out the biggest, best and worst bags!

Sick joke

Little Johnny was in church with his mom for Sunday Mass when he felt a sudden barf attack impending. "Mom, I think I'm going to throw up!" She told him, "I want you to run outside as fast as you can. Run across the lawn and go behind the bushes. You can throw up behind the bushes and nobody will see you." So Little Johnny hauled ass for the door. Less than a minute later, he returned to his seat next to his mom. He had the look of obvious relief on his young face. "Did you make it all the way to the bushes, Little Johnny?" "I didn't have to go that far, mom. Just as I got to the front door, I found a box that had a sign on it: FOR THE SICK." (Thanks to Ada Mae Lewis)

Friday, June 16, 2000 

Which way are you flying?

Ever noticed that birds, planes, boats, buses, arrows and mythological animals depicted on bags mostly seem to be travelling from left to right? (For those readers who can't tell their left from right hands, that's from west to east). See Qatar Airways (but note the grovelling apology above), Generic 1, Air Lanka and Cyprus Airways for examples. Tailfins, on the other hand, seem to fly from east to west, like Shorouk's and Swissair's. A few logos head directly towards the viewer (like Lao Aviation and Lauda Air). I don't know of any that show a view of a bird's rear end. Though Gorkha does have a plane flying upside down. Is this a figment of my imagination? Or is there statistical meaningfulness in this? New game for bag collectors: count up the number of bags depicting birds (or whatever) flying (a) to the right, (b) to the right, (c) towards the viewer, (d) away from the viewer or (e) on the ground. Analyze statistically (Excel has a chi-square feature, I believe) and send me answers in an email.

Tuesday, June 13, 2000 

A new meaning for barf

What does "barf" mean? It's an American term for "vomit". But pet owners also feed their pooches "BARF": "Bones And Raw Food". Visit www.willowglen.com/barf.htm if you don't believe me. "Many dog and cat owners are singing the praises of feeding their dogs the BARF diet", it states. (25 Nov 2000) According to The Economist (3 June 2000, p 35), there's an Iranian washing powder called "Barf".

Sunday, June 04, 2000 

Underbagged

What do Latvia, Liberia and Lesotho have in common? Yes, they all start with an L. What else? They're all missing from my barfbag collection.

What's the biggest country not represented? Chad. In terms of population? Burkina Faso. Other prominent absentees (coloured red in the map): Georgia and Rwanda. 

Major underrepresented portions of the globe are a swathe of Africa and chunks of Central Asia and Central America.

Donations from these areas especially welcome!

Centres of megabagdiversity are the USA (though many US bags are distressingly plain), China, the UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia. 

Click here for details.

For new baggists only

New to the world of bag collecting? Want to get a head start on your collection? Then send me an email, and I'll send you a randomly selected free starter pack from my surplus bag stock. There won't be anything rare, and you may end up with some duplicates, but at least you'll be able to show your friends a few more of these lovely cultural artefacts. Make sure you include your mailing address in your email. Offer good as long as stocks last.

This is where old news goes when it's too old to be news.

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