# Admittedly a stupid question: What does WAG stand for? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 25, 2000, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157 "2000-12-25T04:53:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![galyean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f9ae1b/32.png) [@galyean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galyean)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2000, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/1 "2000-12-25T04:53:22Z")
OP wasn’t hard, but what in the world does WAG mean. I’ve seen it in context several times, but I still can’t get a handle on it. It seems to be used in place of What I’d Guess, but that makes WIG. Help. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/2 "2000-12-25T04:56:18Z")
Wild Ass Guess Fighting ignorance since 10:30 ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_of\_the\_Machine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Soul\_of\_the\_Machine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_of_the_Machine)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2000, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/3 "2000-12-25T17:55:47Z")
If you are in science or engineeering, the term is **SWAG** for Scientific Wild Assed Guess. This means you have discovered some numbers, say 1° falling temperatures in Greenland, and a reporter insists you tell the “meaning” of the data or he can’t report it and give you credit. So you say “The next ice age is 10,000 years off, give or take 100,000 years” ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/4 "2000-12-26T08:06:29Z")
Some useful links for acronyms: [NetLingo.com - the Internet Language Dictionary :^)](http://www.netlingo.com/). [The Smileys page =:-0](http://www.netlingo.com/smiley.cfm) [Chat Acronyms & Shorthand!](http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm) ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/5 "2000-12-26T11:00:08Z")
And remember… there’s no such thing as a stupid question, unless it deals with the word “gry”. ---
**Author:** ![coming\_up\_for\_air](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@coming\_up\_for\_air](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coming_up_for_air)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2000, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/6 "2000-12-26T16:59:33Z")
If there’s no such thing as a stupid question, how do stupid people ask their questions? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admittedly-a-stupid-question-what-does-wag-stand-for/47157/7 "2000-12-27T00:33:03Z")
Like I do…