// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
How 'mogging' went from toxic term to mainstream
Watch: Mogging? Here's what Collins' word of the year means
"Mogging" has seen its usage soar over the past year, with the Gen Z slang term being named Collins English Dictionary's word of the year.
Finding its origins in the online language of the manosphere, an online community built around hyper-masculine and often misogynistic content, the term broke out into the mainstream this year, being used by celebrities and the media.
The word is defined by Collins as being used playfully to mean "the act of outshining or outperforming someone or something" and is now widely employed in online discourse about celebrity culture, with signs it is making its way into everyday vocabulary.
"I heard someone the other day say they were 'walk-mogged' - basically just someone else in the street about their age walking faster than them," says Tony Thorne, a language consultant at King's College London.
The term has grown in usage through its association with Clavicular, an influencer known for "looksmaxxing" content, who recently pleaded not guilty to charges including rape. He regularly posts clips of himself attempting to "mog" people in public spaces.
The word reached a wider audience when posts describing the controversial streamer as having been "brutally frame mogged" went viral earlier this year.
But "mogging" may be a lot older than its recent surge might suggest.
Thorne explains that the term - often traced back to the acronym AMOG, or Alpha Male of the Group - was originally used in the 2010s on bodybuilding and incel (involuntary celibate) message boards, before being co-opted by a younger, broader audience.
"It was a toxic term about extreme competitiveness, the urge to dominate. People then started to use it ironically and teasingly."