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Does the phrase brutally frame-mogged (ph) mean anything to you? It has taken parts of the internet by storm. It left a lot of people wondering, what does this even mean, and where did it come from? In this installment of Word Of The Week, where we examine the origin stories of words, NPR's Alana Wise explains.
ALANA WISE, BYLINE: It all started in the gym. Controversial Kick streamer Clavicular was approached to take a picture by a buff fraternity leader. When the photo was posted, his followers lamented that he had been, quote, "brutally frame-mogged" by the larger man. In short, he got shown up.
AMANDA BRENNAN: The term mogging comes from the initialism AMOG, which is alpha male of the group. And to be mogged is to be shown up by another more masculine male.
WISE: That was Amanda Brennan, a meme expert known as the Internet Librarian. She said the term mogging can be traced back to the early days of the internet and is closely associated with incel and manosphere communities. Those groups are often hyper-online and focus on men's issues, often painting women as the root of society's woes.
BRENNAN: But the bodybuilding.net forum was a huge home for meme history, and I think that kind of led into incel culture.
WISE: Since the mogging incident, social media users have adopted the language for jokes.
BRENNAN: It feels so absurdist when there are so many things going on in the world, like, I guess this is the thing we're talking about.
WISE: Experts warn that these communities can spread unhealthy behaviors. Clavicular himself has discussed drug and steroid use to improve his physique.
JONATHAN ALPERT: My concern is that people are hyperfocused on looks. It becomes very competitive, and I'm all for self-improvement, but when it becomes about maxing out or optimizing those looks, that's where I'm becoming quite concerned as a therapist.
WISE: That was Jonathan Alpert, a psychotherapist who often works with young men. Alpert said that the isolationism of the pandemic probably contributed to how much value young people were putting into the perspective of people like Clavicular. And now, back in the real world, they're struggling with who to be.
ALPERT: People found their people online, whether that was, you know, a far-right community or a far-left community or somewhere in the middle. People found ways to connect with other people. And then enter into the mix these terms that we're looking at, and it just created a very unhealthy environment.
WISE: But online, the concept of mogging has found new life as a joke outside of the seriousness of its origins. Alana Wise, NPR News.
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