# Do you know the word "bogue"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499 "2006-03-08T04:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/21 "2006-03-08T16:00:03Z")
Cool! When I read the thread title I remembered hearing this word in my distant past, but just barely. As soon as I saw the Michigan reference it all came back to me. Heard it in Ann Arbor all the time twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/22 "2006-03-08T18:19:24Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I spent the first 22 years of my life living near Detroit, but yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use that word. I do know of a street named “Bogue” in East Lansing, though. Interesting… I’ve taken a leak off the Bogue Street Bridge several times in my college days when walking back to campus from the bars. Ah, the days of 18 year old drinking laws. In my days at MSU in the middle 70s, “bogue” was a word used in the sense described and as I recall fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/23 "2006-03-08T20:35:57Z")
LOL “Bogue”, “boo-gee”, “boogie” etc. is sinply ghetto slang for bourgeoise. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/24 "2006-03-08T20:53:57Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I grew up in Michigan. The word bogue was used quite regularly- it means rude or unfair. “I can’t believe you ate all the pie! That’s so bogue!” > > Since moving from there 18 years ago, I’ve never heard it used again, anywhere. > > Have you ever heard/used this word? HA! I’ve actually had this exact discussion before, and the conclusion then was that this \*has to be \* a Detroit thing. I have several friends from/in Detroit area that use bogue (as described in the OP) and so far they’re the only ones I know of that do, apart from a couple that I know picked it up from a Michigander. I’ve also heard it to mean nasty as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/25 "2006-03-08T22:50:47Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > Not quite the same, but isn’t ‘bogan’ a derogatory Australian term for somebody… Yes, although I don’t think it’s common nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/26 "2006-03-09T00:17:31Z")
I’m sure it doesn’t stem from “bourgeois”- I believe it comes from “bogus”. At any rate, it’s nice to know others have heard this word and it’s not just me. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/27 "2006-03-09T00:36:56Z")
From _The Deeper Meaning of Liff_ by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd (in other words, this is completely made up and completely unhelpful): > [@](#): > > **Bogue** (bohg) n. > The expanse of skin that appears between the top of your socks and the bottom of your trousers when you sit down. > “The Duke of Ilford threw himself onto the chesterfield, brazenly displaying his bogues to the dowager Lady Ingatestone.” > > - Barbara Cartland, _Come Soon, Strange Horseman_ ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/28 "2006-03-09T02:31:52Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I’m sure it doesn’t stem from “bourgeois”- I believe it comes from “bogus”. > > At any rate, it’s nice to know others have heard this word and it’s not just me. Are you saying it “boo-zhee”? Because it really does come from “bourgeois” if so, and the connotation of “bogus” is not out of the range of the uses to which I’ve seen it put. Or is it “boag”? ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/29 "2006-03-09T02:36:45Z")
Nope. Looks like someone either misspelled “vogue” or made up a stupid nickname for the word “bogus” - now I know it! ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/30 "2006-03-09T02:41:25Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > Are you saying it “boo-zhee”? Because it really does come from “bourgeois” if so, and the connotation of “bogus” is not out of the range of the uses to which I’ve seen it put. > > Or is it “boag”? Definitely bogue - rhymes with rogue To say it in the true Michigan fashion, you need to stretch it out a bit. That’s sooooo Booooogue! (an appropriate response after the teacher finished telling everyone that an additional essay was going to be assigned to the entire class after three kids were caught cheating). ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/31 "2006-03-09T02:46:20Z")
> [@Ensign Edison](#): > > Are you saying it “boo-zhee”? Because it really does come from “bourgeois” if so, and the connotation of “bogus” is not out of the range of the uses to which I’ve seen it put. > > Or is it “boag”? Long o, silent u and e. Rhymes with vogue. (I’m trying to picture the residents of The Thumb of Michigan insulting things with the term bougie or however it’s spelled- a term I’m familiar with- it ain’t happening.) ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/32 "2006-03-09T02:51:38Z")
Thank you, **minor7flat5**. Now, if everyone could go ahead and start saying this, taking it nationally, then I could honestly post in that other thread about sayings you made popular. That would be great, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/33 "2006-03-09T03:08:27Z")
West Bloomfield. Born early 1970s, lived in SE Michigan up to and through college. Bogue was very common. Never occurred to me that it would be a regionalism, I thought everyone knew it. Never saw it written until now though. Totally bogue. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/34 "2006-03-09T03:19:10Z")
This one’s sending me back… Grew up in E. Lansing (not too far from Bogue St., actually). Bogue was definitely a word we used (I started high school in the early 70s and left Michigan in the mid-80s). Can’t remember whether it was a high school or college word. Never even missed it until just now. Guess I’ll have to re-add it to my vocabulary. 😃 GT ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/35 "2006-03-09T03:25:27Z")
Michigan resident from '81-'89. Heard _bogue_ frequently, meaning gross, nasty, squicky. Infrequently _bogus,_ used as an intensified form of _bogue._ After leaving Michigan, I now associate _bogus_ only with its traditional universal meaning of phony or fraudulent. _Bogue_ I don’t use at all. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/36 "2006-03-09T03:32:06Z")
It was slightly after “my time” (meaning just after I got out of college and was no longer exposed to hip people on a daily basis), but it was definitely “bogue,” to rhyme with rogue and vogue and it was definitely a shortened form of bogus. (There were probably a few people who confused some of the peripheral meanings of bogus and bogart. Obviously, it was a BAD THING to hoard the joint (bogart) and things that were false or crude were BAD THINGS (bogus). But the meaning expressed by most speakers was a shortening of bogus.) ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/37 "2006-03-09T14:49:11Z")
NTC’s Dictionary of American slang (1990) says: bogue: bogus, fake ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/38 "2006-03-09T15:31:39Z")
I had no idea it’s so regional. :: points to her location info :: Although I’ll say it seems to be older slang. I don’t really hear people say it anymore, but I have no doubt that if I said, “that’s so bogue!” that everyone would know what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/39 "2006-03-09T17:48:37Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I grew up in Michigan. The word bogue was used quite regularly- it means rude or unfair. “I can’t believe you ate all the pie! That’s so bogue!” > > Since moving from there 18 years ago, I’ve never heard it used again, anywhere. > > Have you ever heard/used this word? Yup - Michigan again ( outskirts of Detroit ) and this was…hmmm…1978-1980? At any rate when I subsequently moved to California I was treated with some mild derision by my step-brothers for using the word. Definitely not a CA thing :D. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499/40 "2006-03-09T18:04:28Z")
> [@myrnajean](#): > > Are you sure its not “bogart”? As in “Stop bogarting the joint and pass it!” which used to mean to hog something. I think it originated from Humphry Bogart’s name, who was also called Bogie… I’m from Minnesota, and that is the only way I’ve ever heard bogue used. _“Don’t bogue the J dude”_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-word-bogue/347499.md?page=3)