The Meaning of Pog: What It Is and How To Use It

Have you ever heard of the slang term pog? This article will show you the meaning of Pog and how to use it in everyday life.

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According to Your Dictionary, the term pog is a slang term that means awesome, remarkable, or excellent when used as an adjective. This can also be used as an exclamation or interjection to denote excitement. The term pog can also be used as a verb, to mean that someone opens their mouth excitedly, referencing the PogChamp Twitch emote.

How the Term Pog Is Used: Gamers, Military, and More

There are many variations on the term pog in gaming, including PogChamp, PogU, OkayChamp, WeirdChamp, poggers, and more. This was originally an emote created on Twitch which was removed in January 2021. But then it was replaced by a rotation of different emotes used by the Twitch chat when a streamer is streaming.

Pog also has a few other different definitions. This can reference a blend of juices made from passion fruit, orange, and guava. This tropical-style juice drink was launched in Maui, Hawaii, in 1971. It can also refer to the early 1990s game Pogs, which was created by a beverage company using promotional milk bottle caps. Children collected the gaming piece of cardboard disks.

In the military, the term POG means “Person Other than Grunt.” Pog originates from the Gaelic word pogue, which means kiss. Navy sailors who were of Irish descent served during the American Civil War and were jealous that the other soldiers would get to stay home and get kisses from ladies while they were off at war.

Marines later used it to refer to people who were not involved in combat. Now, it refers to anyone associated with any non-combat-related military occupational specialties like intel or ammo, not a frontline soldier. It is now considered a derogatory term.

This can also refer to one of the two title characters in Pib and Pog, which is an animated short film created by Aardman Animations. 

What Is the Origin of the Term Pog?

The term POG originated as an acronym for “play of the game.” Therefore, it is used as a response to positive things happening in gameplay. Others think this is erroneous folk etymology.

The term PogChamp (short for pog champion) originated from a 2010 outtakes video from Street Fighter professional competitors Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez and Mike Ross. This video contained numerous silly expressions that spurred different Twitch emotes.

This emote was removed when Gootecks became involved in the civil unrest surrounding the Capitol riots that took place in January of 2021 on his YouTube channel when discussing the #MAGAMartyr death. Other Twitch emotes include things like Pepe the Frog which people react with during live streams by kids and adults alike.

What Can the Term Pog Stand For?

The term pog is not necessarily only used as an abbreviation, but also an acronym, according to The Free Dictionary. This acronym can stand for a plethora of different things, which may seem confusing. If you ever hear someone use the word pog and are confused about what they mean, don’t be afraid to ask them to clarify.

  •  Process Offgas
  •  Property of God
  •  Program Operating Guide
  •  Purchase Order Generator
  •  Port Operations Group (US DoD)
  •  Pediatric Oncology Group
  •  Parents of the Groom
  •  Pineapple, Orange, Guava
  •  Period of Gestation
  •  Philharmonia of Greensboro (Greensboro, NC)
  •  Pot of Gold
  •  Project Officers Group
  •  Piece Of Gum
  •  Play Online Games 
  •  Port Gentil, Gabon – Port Gentil (Airport Code)
  •  Pettus Organic Group 
  •  Poetry Group (Tucson, AZ)
  •  Point of Grace (band)
  •  Price of Glory Wrestling
  •  Passionfruit, Orange, Guava
  •  Prisoners of Graffiti
  •  Power Oriented Graph
  •  Price of Gold
  •  Person of Girth
  •  Psychological Operations Group
  •  Personnel Other than Grunt
  •  Planogram
  •  Portage, Wisconsin (Amtrak station code)
  •  Price of Government
  •  Player of the Game
  •  Prius Owners Group (car club)
  •  Piece of Garbage
  •  Paths of Glory (board game)
  •  Polyphonic Octave Generator (audio equipment)
  •  Priorities of Government
  •  Propulsion Operating Guide (TMINS)
  •  Person Other than Grunt
  •  Parts, Oil & Grease
  •  Php Object Generator

Pog: A List of Synonyms

Many different words can be used in place of pog, which can be helpful if the person you are speaking with is not a gamer or is not familiar with the Twitch community and slang terms. This list of potential synonyms for the word pog is from Thesaurus’s list of similar words to “awesome,” which is itself a synonym for pog!

  •  Awesome
  •  Mind-Blowing
  •  Outstanding
  •  Beautiful
  •  Amazing
  •  Excellent
  •  Cool
  •  Terrific
  •  Marvelous
  •  Exceptional
  •  Astonishing
  •  Impressive
  •  Great
  •  Wonderful
  •  Remarkable
  •  Intense
  •  Fabulous

POG: A List of Antonyms

It’s important to know words that mean the opposite of pog, as well. There are numerous different words that Thesaurus lists that can be used as antonyms of POG. Antonyms are another great way to expand your knowledge of words and grow your own vocabulary.  

  • Crummy
  • Icky
  • Synthetic
  • Sad
  • Blah
  • Bummer
  • Cruddy
  • Careless
  • Not Good
  • Unacceptable
  • Awful
  • Rough
  • Downer
  • Imperfect
  • Defective
  • Amiss
  • Grungy
  • Inadequate
  • Off
  • Dissatisfactory
  • Atrocious
  • Beastly
  • Poor
  • Grody
  • Bad News
  • Slipshod
  • Faulty
  • Unsatisfactory
  • Abominable
  • Diddly
  • Erroneous
  • Gross
  • Fallacious
  • Bad
  • Substandard
  • Dreadful
  • Lousy
  • Junky
  • Garbage
  • Incorrect
  • Cheesy
  • The Pits
  • Stinking
  • Cheap
  • Raunchy
  • Deficient
  • Crappy
  • Godawful

Conclusion

Overall, the gaming term POG means awesome. This comes from the online gaming community. It is very casual and a slang word. So, ensure that you use it in the proper context so that no one is offended or confused.

Sources:

  1. POG – What does POG stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  2. Pog Meaning | Best 3 Definitions of Pog  | Your Dictionary
  3. The Fascinating Beginning of the Term ‘POG’ | Military.com 
  4. 59 Synonyms & Antonyms for AWESOME | Thesaurus.com 
  5. 189 Synonyms & Antonyms for BAD | Thesaurus.com