If a big dog knocks you over, the joking term for that mishap is dogberg, a bit of slang inspired by the name of professional wrestler Bill Goldberg, who liked to finish off his opponents with his signature move called the spear, which involved charging at them and knocking them off their feet. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Dogberg!”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. I’m always glad to learn a new word that I didn’t know I needed.
And Grant, I learned one from you the other day that I really appreciated.
Was it a four-letter word, a naughty word?
No, it wasn’t one of those this time.
Oh, I think I know the one. It was because a friend of ours had an accident.
Yeah, a friend of ours unfortunately got knocked over by a big dog at the dog park.
And you told me there’s a word for that.
I had no idea.
Dogburg.
Dogburg.
Yeah, to get knocked over by an animal is to be dogburg.
Apparently it comes from the name of Bill Goldberg, a professional wrestler who had sort of a signature move where he would just do what they called a spear, like just run at somebody and knock them over, I guess.
Yeah, so the word is D-O-G-B-E-R-G after his last name.
And he’s a massive man, just built like a mountain.
And he kind of gets this look on his face.
You can find videos on YouTube where he kind of lurks in the corner of the ring.
And he does like a spear move at his opponent who, you know, because they’ve set it up so the opponent is kind of oblivious.
And just dives at this guy and his opponent and whips him off his feet.
I am so glad to have a word for that.
I’ve been wanting a big dog myself.
You know, we have a little one, but we wanted a big one as well.
But now I have a word for what I fear, you know, as much as I love big dogs.
Yeah, dog bird, because they are single-minded in pursuit of a squirrel or a gopher or whatever it is that they’re after.
And they ball, frisbee.
They often don’t see what’s between them and their target.
Yeah, they’re wonderful, but being dog bird is not a good thing.
Well, obviously, we talk about all different kinds of language on this show, and we’d love to talk with you.
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The address is words@waywordradio.org.
