What does 'mogging' mean? Bizarre Gen Z looksmaxxing trend explained

Every so often, a ridiculous new slang term makes its way into TikTok comments and feeds. And now, people are scratching their heads over the meaning of 'mogging'.

The term is generally associated with the 'looksmaxxing' community. In that context, mogging is said to derive from the acronym AMOG (alpha male of the group) to describe someone who aesthetically outshines another person, or asserts some sort of dominance over them.

And, as per good old millennial Urban Dictionary, mogging is described as being "used mostly by the Incel Community and Pick Up Artists. Mogging, is the practice of dominating other men by being more sexually attractive and using this to show off in an attempt to pick up girls."

Clavicular, a controversial internet personality who often uses the term, recently said on a livestream that he'd have to "practice mogging sober" following his brief hospitalisation for a suspected overdose.

When Clavicular was asked whether he identifies as an "incel" during a recent interview with Adam Hegarty, he hit back: "Do I identify as an incel? I mean, how could you ask me that question as a follow-up after you asked me about my relationships to women. I mean, that’s quite literally the worst sequence of questions I think I’ve ever heard."

He later said he is "not linked to that group in any way," adding: "Looksmaxxing is self-improvement, right? So it’s about potentially even ascending out of that category. So that would be kind of one of the goals is to disassociate from being an incel and overcome that. So that doesn’t make sense."

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That said, the slang term has made its way into the Gen Z mainstream as a bit of a viral joke to describe when someone, or something, is overperforming.

For example, when Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu was asked about her strategy, she humoured: "I feel like my main goal for this competition was to mog ... so hopefully I did that."

Many more have jumped on the bandwagon and have been using the term in more relaxed, informal contexts. Still, very random nevertheless.

"Bro.. spring season just feels so majestic, like it’s genuinely mogging the absolute f*** out of winter and it’s not even close," one person tweeted.

Another penned: "London might be mogging NYC, I’m not so sure now.. I need a reminder."

You should also read...

• From hatred to healing: Inside the minds of men who left the manosphere
• 'Looksmaxxing' influencer Clavicular breaks silence after recent hospitalisation

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