hanging the bag out

[bazmoore]

i work in the haulage industry and there a commonly used phrase, "hanging the bag out ". which means making a job last longer than it should by dawdling or taking a longer route (in order to earn more money).
i suspect it originates in the coal mines of the north east has anyone else heard of it an know of its origins?
baz

[Grunty]

This link confirms what you say in option no. 2. I don't recommend experimenting with option no. 1.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term =hanging+the+bag+out

[Quizmonster]

As no-one has replied yet, Baz, let me have a guess. Beggars and street buskers usually have a receptacle of some kind into which they hope kindly passers-by will drop some money. In earlier times, when men invariably wore hats, a cap would be passed round to collect tips for bus-drivers and so on. It strikes me that such receptacles/caps are pretty much a form of 'bag', so I wonder whether that is the source of your saying, which I must confess I have never heard used.
The idea behind it, therefore, is one of receiving "money for nothing very much" as it were, which seems to be what your drivers are doing.

[Quizmonster]

Well, well, well! Grunty's response was definitely not there when I started to type mine. Just like buses, these answers, aren't they? You wait for ages and then two come along at once!

I' m still puzzled, though, as to what sort of bag it was and why would miners hang one out?

[Ashton689]

I was saying to someone yesterday that my mother used to say that to me when I was a little mite, prolonging having to go to bed. But I was trying to see the relevance. I was thinking that if it was something to do with miners, then maybe they hung a bag outside to show that they were still in there working! What the heck? I don't know!!!

[GBaines]

I work in engineering in the south east and we use the term when someone is given a job and it takes longer than it should. Sometimes to get into overtime rates. You take your tool/toolbag and put it on the job to show you are working on it.