You've seen it everywhere. It’s in the Twitch chat scrolling at light speed, it’s under YouTube clips of someone landing a 360-no-scope, and it’s even leaked into real-world slang. Pog. If you’re over the age of 25, or just haven't spent much time on live-streaming platforms, you probably feel like you've walked into a conversation halfway through.
So, what does pog stand for? It's actually a bit of a trick question. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get three different answers. Some will tell you about 90s cardboard milk caps. Others will point to a specific video from 2010. The rest will just tell you it’s an adjective for "cool." They’re all right.
The Acronym: Play of the Game
In its most literal, modern sense, POG stands for Play of the Game.
This usage gained massive traction through Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment's hero shooter. At the end of every match, the game’s algorithm picks the most impressive moment—usually a multi-kill or a game-saving ultimate—and replays it for everyone to see. The screen flashes "Play of the Game" in big, bold letters.
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Players started shortening this to POG. It became a way to describe any moment that was worthy of a highlight reel. If your friend manages to clutch a 1v4 in Valorant or lands a perfect trick in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, you might yell "POG!"
But that's only half the story. The word existed long before Overwatch hit the shelves in 2016.
The Origin: Pogs and Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez
To understand why "Pog" became a cultural phenomenon, we have to look at a 2010 promotional video for a joystick.
Ryan Gutierrez, known in the fighting game community as Gootecks, and Mike Ross were the faces of Cross Counter TV. During an outtake of their show, Gutierrez reacted to a camera technician nearly tripping over a tripod with a wild, exaggerated expression of shock and excitement. His mouth was open in a perfect "O" shape, eyes wide.
Wait, why does that lead to "Pog"?
Earlier in that same session, they were playing with Pogs—the 1990s game involving circular cardboard caps. The video was titled "Pogs Battle." Because they were playing Pogs when Gutierrez made that iconic face, the internet combined the two. The face became known as PogChamp (short for Pog Champion).
In 2012, Twitch added that face as an official global emote. From that moment on, whenever something incredible happened on a stream, the chat would explode with "PogChamp." Over time, the internet—being the efficiency machine that it is—clipped the word down. PogChamp became Poggers, and eventually, just Pog.
The Evolution into "Poggers" and "PogU"
Slang never sits still. Once "Pog" became the standard for "excited," various communities started creating their own versions.
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If you use the browser extensions FrankerFaceZ or BetterTTV (BTTV), you’ll see thousands of variations. There’s "Poggers," which usually features the character Pepe the Frog with the Gootecks expression. There’s "PogU," which is a front-facing version of the original emote.
It’s a weird linguistic soup. Honestly, it’s kinda fascinating how a cardboard game from the 90s merged with a fighting game player's reaction to create a word that millions of people use daily without knowing its roots.
Why did the original emote disappear?
You might notice that if you type "PogChamp" on Twitch today, you don't see Ryan Gutierrez’s face. In January 2021, Twitch removed the original emote following controversial statements made by Gutierrez on social media regarding the events at the U.S. Capitol.
Twitch didn't want to lose the "Pog" sentiment, though. It was too baked into the culture. For a while, they rotated a new face for PogChamp every 24 hours. Eventually, they settled on a stylized, generic version of the "mouth-open" expression. The word survived the person who inspired it.
Military Slang: A Different Kind of POG
We have to mention the "other" POG. If you ask a veteran what does POG stand for, you’re going to get a much less enthusiastic answer.
In military circles, POG (pronounced "pogue") stands for Person Other than Grunt.
It’s a derogatory or playful term (depending on who's talking) used by infantry soldiers to describe anyone who has a non-combat job. If you’re in supply, admin, or any desk job behind the front lines, you’re a POG.
It’s important not to mix these up. Calling a combat veteran "pog" because they did something cool will lead to a very confusing conversation. Context is everything.
How to Use "Pog" Without Looking Like a Narc
If you're going to use the term, you need to understand the vibe. It functions as both a noun, an adjective, and an interjection.
- As an interjection: "I just got a promotion!" "Pog!"
- As an adjective: "That was a pretty pog move, honestly."
- As a verb (rarely): "We are absolutely pogging right now." (Actually, maybe don't say that one. It’s a bit much.)
It’s generally used to describe something high-quality, impressive, or surprising. It has largely replaced "cool" or "awesome" in younger gaming circles.
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The Linguistic Impact
Linguists like Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet, often talk about how internet slang follows the same rules as traditional language evolution. "Pog" is a perfect example of back-formation. We took a long word (PogChamp), shortened it (Pog), and then re-assigned a new acronym meaning to it (Play of the Game) to justify its existence.
It is a "lexical chameleon." It fills a specific void in digital communication: the need for a short, punchy way to signal shared hype.
Practical Takeaways for Using "Pog"
If you want to integrate this into your vocabulary—or just want to understand your kids—keep these points in mind:
- Don't overthink the "Play of the Game" meaning. Most people use it just to mean "great," regardless of whether a "game" is involved.
- Know your platform. It's native to Twitch and Discord. Using it on LinkedIn might get you some strange looks from HR.
- Recognize the visual. If you see someone post an image of a person or a frog with a wide-open mouth and a shocked expression, that is a visual "pog."
- Check the context. Remember the military definition. If you're in a thread about the Army, POG means something very different than it does in a League of Legends thread.
The life cycle of internet slang is usually short. Most words die within a year or two. "Pog" has managed to stick around for over a decade because it’s flexible. It morphed from a cardboard game to a face, to an acronym, to a general vibe. Whether you think it’s cringey or not, it’s officially part of the modern lexicon.
To stay ahead of the curve, pay attention to how streamers use it in real-time. Slang moves fast; by the time a word makes it into a dictionary, the "cool" version has usually changed again. For now, "pog" remains the king of hype.
Next Steps for Mastering Gaming Slang
To truly grasp how these terms function in the wild, your best bet is to spend thirty minutes in a high-traffic Twitch stream—think someone like Shroud or a major esports tournament. Watch the "chat wall." You’ll see "pog" used in reaction to specific frames of animation, lucky drops, or even just a funny comment. Notice the speed. The word isn't just a label; it’s a rhythmic response to digital stimuli. Once you see it in motion, the definition clicks in a way that prose can't quite capture.