{"id":243,"date":"2018-03-21T07:58:30","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T07:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/?p=243"},"modified":"2018-03-21T07:58:30","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T07:58:30","slug":"a-daggy-blog-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/2018\/03\/21\/a-daggy-blog-post\/","title":{"rendered":"A daggy blog post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most ubiquitously Australian words is the word <em>dag<\/em>. A word known and loved by basically any Aussie.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_246\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-246\" style=\"width: 266px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-246\" src=\"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/daggydad-300x274.jpg\" alt=\"Classic daggy dad\" width=\"266\" height=\"243\" srcset=\"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/daggydad-300x274.jpg 300w, https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/daggydad-296x270.jpg 296w, https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/daggydad.jpg 599w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-246\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 1 &#8211; The classic daggy-dad weekend look<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s a light-hearted insult referring to someone who is unfashionable or socially awkward, basically a bit of a dork (Fig 1). But like most insults in Australian English it\u2019s also used affectionately as a term of endearment (what does this say about how Australians relate to each other?). Typically in these cases, it is used to convey a sense of regard for the unashamedness of the dag in question \u2013 to express the lovable quality of someone who is just oblivious to certain social norms.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_247\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-247\" style=\"width: 175px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-247\" src=\"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/dag-225x300.gif\" alt=\"Ewww\" width=\"175\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/dag-225x300.gif 225w, https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/dag-203x270.gif 203w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 175px) 100vw, 175px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-247\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig. 2 &#8211; An actual dag.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, the origins of this this word are anything but loveable. According to the popular story (which appears to be supported by Macquarie Dictionary and The Australian National Dictionary), this usage is derived from the older meaning (attested in 1891) of the word <em>dag<\/em> to refer to a matted clot of wool and dung that forms around a sheep\u2019s bum (Fig 2). By 1967 something\u00a0 \u2018dirty and unkempt\u2019 could be referred to as <em>daggy<\/em> and by the 1980s we were using the word for Figure 2 for the unfashionable yet loveable dad in Figure 1.<\/p>\n<p>As an Australian, I am proud of my dagginess and am pleased to know our daggy little word has a pretty gross origin.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most ubiquitously Australian words is the word dag. A word known and loved by basically any Aussie. It\u2019s a light-hearted insult referring to someone who is unfashionable or socially awkward, basically a bit of a dork (Fig 1). But like most insults in Australian English it\u2019s also used affectionately as a term of endearment (what does this say about how Australians relate to each other?). Typically in these cases, it is used to convey a sense of&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/2018\/03\/21\/a-daggy-blog-post\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,25],"tags":[26],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","tag-australian-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}