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Some unknown guy punched Brendan. Brendan appeared before V.P Trueman.

V.P Trueman: So you didn't know this boy?

Brendan: No sir, never seen him.

V.P Trueman: And he just hit you?

Brendan:Like I said, he asked for my lunch money first. Good thing I brown-bagged it.

In google, Brown-Bagged is related to sex, but here context is so different.

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1
  • What is V.P.? Vice president of the USA?
    – Evgeni Nabokov
    Jul 20 '17 at 18:12
54

As an international student in the U.S., I was puzzled first time I received an invitation to a "brown bag lunch seminar" in our department. Turned out, it means that lunch isn't served, but everybody was expected to bring their own lunch. And it would often be packed in a brown paper bag (they sell them in stores), hence the name.

So in this context "I brown-bagged it" means that Brendan didn't have any lunch money, but brought his own lunch with him (which may or may not have been in an actual brown bag).

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  • 5
    You seem to be missing a reference. Try this: thefreedictionary.com/brown-bag+lunch
    – cobaltduck
    Jul 17 '17 at 12:29
  • 4
    @Flater Hiding alcohol isn't a requirement - it's simply illegal to drink alcohol in public in many places in the US. The brown bag, in that case, is usually a weak attempt to disguise the illegal activity. In any case, that isn't the meaning in OP's quote. The implied meaning is clear - that Brendan didn't have any lunch money because he instead brought a lunch with him.
    – J...
    Jul 17 '17 at 15:11
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    +1 You have the correct interpretation. The bully asked for Brendan's lunch money, but Brendan didn't have any because he had brought his lunch from home. It is unlikely in the extreme that a school kid would tell the vice principal (school official, often in charge of discipline) that he had been carrying a container of liquor.
    – 1006a
    Jul 17 '17 at 15:14
  • 2
    @Flater To "brown bag it" is a common idiom, meaning to bring one's own lunch.
    – 1006a
    Jul 17 '17 at 15:17
  • 3
    Just to add the image, since it's a reference to the ubiquitous Brown Bags found in most American school cafeterias.
    – BruceWayne
    Jul 17 '17 at 17:09

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