WORD MEME · Issue 6

To Mog or Get Mogged in a Moggy Mog World

“Mog” (or “mogging”) is a popular Gen Z/Alpha slang term meaning to outshine, outperform, or appear superior to someone else, particularly in attractiveness, fashion, or physical appearance. Originating from the acronym AMOG (“Alpha Male of the Group”), it is often used on social media to describe dominating others or being “shown up” in photos.

—the internet

Mog is genuinely one of my favorite terms. At first, it’s an odd expression. It feels like wet laundry out of the mouth.

But with time, and taking notice of its cultural rise, the embrace of the word becomes real.

Somewhere around the early 2000s, before the word knew it existed, the term “AMOG” (Alpha Male of the Group) sprouted up as a way to call out which guy in a group was the leader.

Certain words and expressions have a way of growing beneath the surface, through situational use, and becoming repurposed.

And that’s exactly what happened with mog by the early 2020s, as it ascended through the cultural ranks, picked up mostly by Gen Z and Gen Alpha as everyday slang.

If you got mogged, you were shown up, outshined, got beat or outclassed.

If you did the mogging, you shredded the competition or picked up some kind of life-win—in some cases when others doubted.

It’s an emphatic way to brag, describe triumph or admit defeat.

Unexpected Twist: Mog Glasses

Enter Mog Coin in 2023, a crypto token built around a community of lovers of the term itself — then given a mascot to go with it.

The Mog Glasses have become a symbol and meme unto themselves. And the visual memification of mog — the glasses, the term, and the Mog Cat character — has been blazing its own path ever since. It’s an uncontrollable internet meme that spills out of the screen and into real-life conversation.

Which is how we got here, getting mogged by mog itself.

🗺️ Do you know which meme this original art remixes? Answer on the Back Page →

Memes create new language.