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I study English, I like it very much. Help to figure out. "Doggo" it is not clear in the context. Please explain how a native English speaker understand this phrase. Maybe we can replace the word "Doggo" in other words "Pause".

Text of a conversation between "Me" and "Doggo"

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    In English slang as recently as the 1950's, to lie doggo meant to go into hiding. The usage precedes the existence of the internet, and is no longer current. It is apparently unrelated to the contemporary usage. Jun 23, 2017 at 6:53
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    WeRateDogs (dog_rates) is a joke twitter account that uses "doggo" a lot. It may be fun to figure out their joke. "Pupper" is their slang for puppy.
    – aschultz
    Jun 23, 2017 at 9:13
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    The colons make it clear... and the image makes it clearer! It's someone who's speaking, here the dog!
    – Maulik V
    Jun 23, 2017 at 10:41
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    Note that the dogs may also "Bork" (or "Boof" if its a big doggo) and like to have their "Snoots" "Booped"
    – marsh
    Jun 23, 2017 at 13:27
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    NPR ran a thorough article on the topic: npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/04/23/524514526/…
    – mfsiega
    Jun 23, 2017 at 15:47

1 Answer 1

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It's internet slang for dog:

Doggo is an internet slang term for dog, which is often associated with the word pupper in various ironic meme communities online.
(Know Your Meme)

I guess you can think of it as a humorous way to say dog. I've never heard anyone say this in person, but I imagine that there is a very small number that do (like LOL) in casual conversations.

However, appending the suffix -o to form derivatives is not uncommon:

-o

  1. a suffix occurring as the final element in informal shortenings of nouns (ammo; combo; condo; limo; promo); -o, also forms nouns, usually derogatory, for persons or things exemplifying or associated with that specified by the base noun or adjective (cheapo; pinko; sicko; weirdo; wino).
  2. a suffix occurring in colloquial noun or adjective derivatives, usually grammatically isolated, as in address:
    cheerio; kiddo; neato; righto.

(Dictionary.com)

Returning to the dialogue:

Me: Sit down!
Dog: No you sit down
Me: ok

Dog/doggo refers to the dog in the picture. He seems quite large and intimidating. If he ordered me to sit, of course I would listen!

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    I feel it's worth mentioning here that another common word you may see on pictures like this is "pupper". This is similar case as above, where it is intended to mean "puppy"
    – SGR
    Jun 23, 2017 at 10:23
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    There is also this joke: "What's a pupper? A little Doggo. What's a Doggo? A big ol' Pupper." Jun 23, 2017 at 11:21
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    In some areas doggo would have long been used as an affectionate or term much as doggie is elsewhere, due to the general -o suffixing you describe, so you would hear it in person in such cases.
    – Jon Hanna
    Jun 23, 2017 at 11:56
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    The fact that the word "doggo" already exists with a different meaning adds a lot of confusion. For a long time I thought it only got applied to pictures of dogs who were lying flat on the ground, and most of the examples I saw did meet that description. Not so, in this case, but that's because the word has come to be applied by some to any and all dogs with no connection with the word's previous meaning. I had heard the word used in the past as a synonym for "dog" (before the current trend), but mostly by children who were soon corrected. I speculate the trend now is to replace "doggie". Jun 23, 2017 at 13:29
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    My daughters both have been calling our family dog both "doggo" and "pupper" for a few years now. Particularly the 15 year old. (We live in Oklahoma, but of course they live on Instagram).
    – T.E.D.
    Jun 23, 2017 at 22:16

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