That’s right! I forgot about that until after I posted my question.
I think of that more like " 'Sup, dawg? ", which is (was?) a standard greeting in certain US subcultures.
Sigh…
You guys were supposed to say, “What’s Updog?” At which point I could reply, “Nothing, what’s up with you?”.
I played that dad joke on my kids and they both foiled it by replying “what’s that?” I did get one of their friends to reply “what’s up dog,” much to my kids delight.
You can do a last hitch effort to save the joke by responding “What’s what?”, but if they don’t say “What’s Updog” then, you’re screwed.
I feel like I tried that with at least one of them. Naturally she responded “updog” by its lonesome.
I do wonder if “what’s up dog” is still recognized well. I guess my kids did get it, but it feels a little dated.
Curses! Foiled again.
Darn those meddlesome kids and their pesky talking updog. 