[Ads-l] doggo = dog

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Sep 25 20:37:50 UTC 2022


Then there’s specifically “lying doggo”, as in 

https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/magazine/on-language-britishisms-lying-doggo.html <https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/14/magazine/on-language-britishisms-lying-doggo.html>

I’ve heard of “lie doggo” but I’m not familiar with “doggo” with other verbs.  Here’s the OED entry, with some nice late 19th c. cites:

Chiefly in  to lie (also play) doggo: to lie flat, remain hidden; to lie quietly. Also in extended use: to keep a low profile, lie low.
1882    Sporting Times <> 25 Mar. 5/3   He had been a guest, after lying doggoh for some time, at one of Blobbs' quiet little suppers.
1886    Time <> Dec. 684   ‘Sharks abroad. Breakers ahead. Benjamins on the war-path. Lie doggo. Joe.’.. ‘What's the meaning of it?..And what is “lying doggo”?’
1890    R. Kipling in  Pioneer Mail <> 28 May 698/1   The other subaltern lay doggo in camp.
1893    R. Kipling Many Inventions <> 259   I wud lie most powerful doggo whin I heard a shot, an' curl my long legs behind a bowlder.

> On Sep 25, 2022, at 10:08 AM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The OED, Dictionary.com <http://dictionary.com/>, the HDAS, Wiktionary, and Merriam-Webster have “doggo” meaning “in hiding.”
> 
> None of those except Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doggo <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doggo>) have the meaning of “dog.”
> 
> According to "Mi Dog Guide" (https://midogguide.com/diseases/what-kind-of-dog-is-doggo.html <https://midogguide.com/diseases/what-kind-of-dog-is-doggo.html>), “doggo” was used in the early 1900s as a vocative for dogs. Certainly the word appears in a lot of Google Books in wha appear to be usage for people as well over the decades (I do not provide citations for this below).
> 
> The word seems to have taken off on the internet in just the past several years, apparently in conjunction with the rise of doggolingo (citation 4 below), a jargon used by cynophiles. While citations can be found before 2017, the YouTube hits really start about then and perhaps earlier citations can be considered nonce or playful usage. 
> 
> A glossary of doggolingo can be found in "DoggoLingo 101: Internet Language of the Dogs” by Patrick Mull (https://tinyurl.com/5f7jm3fp <https://tinyurl.com/5f7jm3fp>).
> 
> 1. Counting on Frank
> Rod Clement
> 1991
> https://tinyurl.com/2p8dptfs <https://tinyurl.com/2p8dptfs>
> 
> ###
> Frank will eat only Doggo dog food, so his human family must take along enough to keep him fed and fit for their vacation in Hawaii. Frank eats two cans of Doggo a day…
> ###
> 
> 2. Walking, a Moving Experience
> Herbert W Hobler
> 1999
> p 81
> https://tinyurl.com/yck89cje <https://tinyurl.com/yck89cje>
> 
> ###
> He introduced me to his Springer Spaniel Doggo. “Doggo?” said I…. “No,” he responded, “that’s the name for dog in Vietnamese.”
> ###
> 
> 3. Waiting For Doggo
> Mark Mills
> 2014
> https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Waiting_For_Doggo/CrWnAwAAQBAJ?hl=en <https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Waiting_For_Doggo/CrWnAwAAQBAJ?hl=en>
> 
> 4. Dogs Are Doggos: An Internet Language Built Around Love For The Puppers
> Jessica Boddy
> 23 Apr 2017
> https://tinyurl.com/yc7x3ucz <https://tinyurl.com/yc7x3ucz>
> 
> 5. How to Speak Doggo
> L. M. Campbell
> 2019
> https://www.google.ca/books/edition/How_to_Speak_Doggo/6lmPzAEACAAJ?hl=en <https://www.google.ca/books/edition/How_to_Speak_Doggo/6lmPzAEACAAJ?hl=en>
> 
> 6. The Doggo Book
> Alan Ira Gordon
> 2021
> https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Doggo_Book/Q7s5zgEACAAJ?hl=en <https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Doggo_Book/Q7s5zgEACAAJ?hl=en>
> 
> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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