The word rag is deployed with remarkable versatility across literary works, serving both literal and metaphorical functions. In some texts, it designates a tangible object—a threadbare cloth used for cleaning or clothing—as seen when an old shammy is wielded almost ritualistically [1] or when it describes a fragment of fabric imbued with hopeful symbolism [2]. Conversely, rag assumes a pejorative tone in certain narratives, where it belittles a character’s worth or reflects degradation, as when someone is disparagingly dismissed as a rag [3, 4, 5]. Moreover, the term extends into socio-economic commentary, with characters like rag-pickers evoking images of marginality and neglect [6, 7, 8], while in poetic passages a rag can evoke the frailty and transience of human hope and experience [9, 10]. Even in more archaic usage, as in Anglo-Saxon verse, the word is reinterpreted to denote a span of time [11, 12, 13].