Can someone please tell me what “swagger” is? Apparently college kids have this, and I would really like some of this swagger. And no, not the new spray by Old Spice.

 The word swagger is not a new addition to the Oxford English Dictionary but has become popularized by artists like T.I. and M.I.A.

T.I. said he had “the swagga of a college kid,” and M.I.A. said, “No one on the corner has swagger like us.” Everyone decided that he or she had some of this swagger.

 No, you do not have swagger. Updating your Facebook status with quotes such as, “I turned on my swag,” or “Nobody has swag like me,” does not mean you have swagger.

 According to my dictionary, the definition of swagger is, “To conduct oneself in an arrogant or superciliously pompous manner; especially: to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.” Now, there is nothing wrong with self-confidence, but why would you want to be overbearing? Nobody ever likes an overbearing person. No one ever hangs out with the overbearing kid from philosophy class. Why would you want to be arrogant? I don’t think anyone wants to come off as arrogant or overbearing, but people just want to be cool, so they start using a word that sounds cool. Swagger just exemplifies the power of words and rhetoric.

 I was hoping that swagger was just another fad that would come and go like the words “phat” and “mad.” I hoped the word would have the life span of the yo-yo comeback in middle school, but it appears as though swagger is becoming as overused as “like.”

 Swagger is something that comes naturally. You can’t turn off your swag, and you cannot bastardize the word into other awful beasts like “swaggerific.” Putting on a pair of skinny jeans or updating your profile to include the word swagger does not mean you have it. Can we stop using swagger before it becomes “like?” Maybe we should think about the things we say and not just use words that sound cool. You know a word is overused once Honda starts advertising “How to check your Swag” or the fragrance that your grandfather wears introduces Swagger as a new scent.