I have seen this phrase used several times on the SDMB but have no idea what it means. It’s usage seems to be the same as “For the love of God”. From looking around the only information I could find about Og was that me may be a biblical figure name Sihon, or according to wikipedia Og was the name of a country conquered by the Isrealites.
So what’s the Straight Dope on “Og”? A person? A country? Either way, why is Og used in the place of God to provide a saying with apparently the same meaning?
IIRC, a few years ago on these boards (and elsewhere) there emerged a caveman-speak fad with a stock character Og using phrases like “OG SMASH!!”
I presume the name of Og just morphed into a mild/humorous substitute for references to the Deity, in the same way that Jiminy Cricket came to be invoked in place of the somewhat similar-sounding Jesus Christ.
I believe it’s been suggested around here that non-theists are more likely than theists to use “Og” in place of “God”, but I have no idea whether that’s true.
A bit of Dope history…
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103615
It had occured to me that “Og” may be a non-religion specific character to represent a generic divine being and could be used to avoid causing offence by referring to God or Allah in what you wrote, but I was still baffled as to it’s origins.
The mention of Og in biblical referrences led me to believe there was some deeper meaning behind it’s usage but perhaps you are right and it is just a joke as the SDMB and #straightdope on IRC featured prominently in my google searches.
Some orthodox Jewish posters will use “G-d” because they do not want to write the divine name … I use Og out of respect to them.
It’s all racinchikki’s fault!
It’s all racinchikki’s fault!
I’d say it’s gotta be **racinchikki’s **fault.
(oh, Og, here we go again)
But only once. For 20 minutes. In 1962.
I had always interpreted it as a show of respect and courtesy. There are some very classy people on this board who have some faith other than Judeo-Christian-Islamic, or no faith at all. For example, Gaudere, an atheist, capitalizes pronouns refering to the JCI deity out of respect and courtesy.
Why is it racinchikki’s fault?
When come back, bring rancinchikki!
Wasn’t **racinchikki **the inventor of the 1920s-Style Death Ray?
(first brought to our attention by Dogface, aka Ogface)
Oh, so it’s all racinchikki’s fault?
Look for a thread called Glossery of Straight Dope Terms. It has a lot of good references in it
I thought it was Duran Duran’s fault.
They’re big tents.
Og ensues
It might be referring to The Land of Og, or it might be referring to Og Mandino (especially if he or she is trying to sell you something), or maybe even to the Church of the Caveman! I personally doubt that the last one exists; does that make me an agnogstic? :smack:
But seriously, folks…
It’s well-known that Olaf Gniessersen, the well-known Norwegian scientist, invented the tinfoil hat. Thus, when we say “for the Love of Og” we’re remembering Olaf and his contributions (however slim) to the world.
I wonder if we can blame rancinchikki for this 13,383,816 times.