# For the love of Og!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139 "2005-04-26T12:21:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/1 "2005-04-26T12:21:57Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/2 "2005-04-26T12:46:44Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/3 "2005-04-26T12:49:46Z")
A bit of Dope history… > **[All right, I give up -- who is this OG anyway?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=108830)** > > “OG SMASH!” OG this! OG that! What’s gotten into you Dopers all of a sudden? There must be some inside joke here I missed out on at the beginning. I started seeing “OG SMASH!” all over the place soon after the SDMB came back to life last month. ... [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103615](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=103615) ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/4 "2005-04-26T12:53:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/5 "2005-04-26T14:06:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/6 "2005-04-26T18:28:53Z")
It’s all **racinchikki** ’s fault! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/7 "2005-04-26T18:41:07Z")
It’s all **racinchikki** ’s fault! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/8 "2005-04-26T19:28:19Z")
I’d say it’s gotta be \*\*racinchikki’s \*\*fault. (oh, Og, here we go again) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/9 "2005-04-26T19:44:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > It’s all **racinchikki** ’s fault! But only once. For 20 minutes. In 1962. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/10 "2005-04-26T19:51:48Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/11 "2005-04-26T19:57:41Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > It’s all **racinchikki** ’s fault! Why is it **racinchikki’s** fault? ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/12 "2005-04-26T20:14:57Z")
When come back, bring **rancinchikki**! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/13 "2005-04-26T21:03:08Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > Why is it **racinchikki’s** fault? Wasn’t \*\*racinchikki \*\*the inventor of the 1920s-Style Death Ray? (first brought to our attention by **Dogface** , aka **Ogface** ) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/14 "2005-04-26T21:16:30Z")
Oh, so it’s all **racinchikki** ’s fault? ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/15 "2005-04-26T21:28:11Z")
Look for a thread called Glossery of Straight Dope Terms. It has a lot of good references in it ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/16 "2005-04-26T21:38:19Z")
I thought it was Duran Duran’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/17 "2005-04-26T21:39:45Z")
They’re big tents. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/18 "2005-04-26T22:17:59Z")
_Og ensues_ ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/19 "2005-04-26T22:33:11Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139/20 "2005-04-27T00:06:32Z")
I wonder if we can blame **rancinchikki** for this 13,383,816 times. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-love-of-og/301139.md?page=2)