Forrest Wickman, “How Do You Pronounce ‘Doge’?” (Slate Browbeat blog, Nov. 15, 2013)
The meme known as doge—in which photos of dogs, usually Shiba Inus, are labeled with internal monologues like “wow,” “such [adjective],” and “very [noun]”—has been taking over the Web in recent weeks. Websites and comment sections are full of phrases like “Wow, so crack” (in reference to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford) and “Such fail” (in relation to the healthcare.gov rollout). But how do you pronounce doge? …
There’s also Strong Bad, who, as the Know Your Meme page on doge points out, spoke the word in a 2005 Homestar Runner video. He pronounced it dohj. Ben Zimmer, a language columnist for the Wall Street Journal who frequently writes about language for Slate, told me, “In deference to Strong Bad, I would favor /doʊʒ/ or /doʊdʒ/ (with the J sound).”
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