# Origin of the word glurge

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-glurge/103650>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 15, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-glurge/103650 "2002-04-15T00:39:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-glurge/103650/1 "2002-04-15T00:39:56Z")

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Anyone have any idea where the word glurge originated? I asked on Dave Wilton’s [Wordorigins.org](http://pub55.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm1) message board and the only suggestion was that there was a character named glurge on a 1994 cartoon [Real Monsters](http://www.cooltoons.com/shows/realmonsters/episodes/season1/eps009ASmileandsayoblina.html).

Anyone have an earlier cite? The above is too reminiscent of the origin of ‘nerd’ which some people (not me) trace back to an animal name in Dr. Seuss’s _If I Ran the Zoo_.

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-glurge/103650/2 "2002-04-15T00:53:02Z")

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It originated on the Urban Legends mailing list that the Mikkelsons (of [snopes.com](http://snopes.com)) maintain. One of the posters (‘patch’, I believe it was.) on said list coined it - an onomatapea referring to the retching noise she makes when she recieves glurge. I’m not sure when it was originated - it was before my time.

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**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-glurge/103650/3 "2002-04-15T00:53:30Z")

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I first came into conntact with the word on the old Snopes message boards back in 1998 or so. My impression athe time was that it was coined by the Michaelsons, but that was only an impression.