Lexical Learning Lesson

I just learned something important.  You can't go willy nilly about town creating words.  I've been using the word "wog" to describe my lackluster running (get it?  walk+jog=wog?  It's math.).  I've found myself quite amusing for the past few months as I bandied this word about.

This morning, I looked it up to see if I could, perhaps, enter it into the Urban Dictionary.  I cringed at my hubris when I discovered two things...

First, I discovered that is a common acronym (see link here):

WOG  World of Goo (game by 2-D Boy)

WOG  Wake of Gods (gaming, Heroes of Might and Magic III)

WOG  Word of God

WoG   Whole of Government (Australia)

WoG   In the Wake of Gods (add-on to Heroes of Might & Magic III: The Shadow of Death)

WoG   Wrath of God (game)

WOG  Worthy Oriental Gentleman

WOG  Water-Oil-Gas (valves, pressure)

WOG  Without Guarantee

WOG  Westinghouse Owners Group

WOG  Westernised Oriental Gentleman

WOG  Working On Government (apocryphal: circa 1900s British Empire acronym stenciled on shirts of laborers assigned to government projects)

WOG  Woman of God

WOG  Without Giblets (poultry industry)

WOG  With Other Goods

WOG  Way Out Games (old TV game show)

WOG  Without Girlfriend

WOG  Watch Officer's Guide

WOG  Weight on Gear

WOG  Wisdom Oriented Guardian

WOG  Wings Of Green (US Air Force Academy sky diving team)

WOG  Whole Oat Groats (grain milling)

WOG  Work Order Generator

WOG  Work Out Gardener (prisoner status; Victoria, Australia prison system)

WOG  Way of Gun (audio course)

WOG  Weight on Ground (aviation)

Second, much to my chagrin, "wog" has been used as a  racial slur for over a  century, but as recently as the 1960's (see here). The word is already in the Urban Dictionary (see here), and is quite an ugly bit of lexicon.

So... the lesson here is to check before you start throwing words around.  I have a little work ahead of me in undoing this word usage.  When I am done, I will start using the word "wrun" instead.  And yes, I checked.  It is little more than a radio station thus far, so I am safe (for now)