What Does OG Mean In Texting? (Explained!)

OG stands for “original gangster” in texting, and is used in a variety of contexts to indicate that someone is an old hat at something. Someone who has been around in some scene or another for a long time, whether that’s a video game, a profession, or just about anything.

“Original gangster” might sound like a very specific kind of phrase that you’d only use in certain cases, but the truth is that it’s massively expanded out from its original meaning to be applicable in just about any context.

There’s a lot to learn about it, so let’s find out more.

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What does og stand for in texting?

OG stands for “original gangster” in texting.

This is an old phrase that has become widely adopted in all sorts of contexts, so there are a variety of specific things it might mean if someone says it to you over text.

Broadly speaking, though, it refers to someone who is old school and well respected in one area or another, perhaps even the “originator” of something” and the person who first started it, whatever “it” may be.

If someone uses it to you in texting, then, they are most likely referring to a person–however, they could also use it to refer to a thing or concept.

Say, for example, you were discussing certain types of video games like the battle royale genre.

If your friend described, say, PUBG or Fortnite, as the “og battle royale game,” they mean it is the one that spawned the genre, the first one that there was.

Obviously, though, a game cannot be a “gangster”, so the phrase is not as literal as it once was.

Another good example, which also leads into the origin of this phrase, is rap.

You might say someone like Tupac or Biggie was the “og” of the modern genre of rap, one of the biggest names in the industry without whom rap as we know it today might not exist.

So, you can see that this phrase has a very broad application and there are many ways someone might use it.

So, if someone uses this expression to you in texting, then they are just saying that someone or something is the original, one of if not the first of something which later took off in a very big way.

A highly respected individual in one community or another.

Where do we get this phrase, then?

Where does og come from in texting?

As I touched on, this expression has its origins in rap, specifically of the 80s and 90s.

We take rap for granted as a genre now, but compared to a lot of other musical styles it is relatively recent.

It arose in America out of a variety of African-American forms of cultural expression like jazz and R&B.

Rap itself was, in part, a product of gangs like the Bloods and the Crips.

The very first usage of the term “og” is said to be from the Eastside Crips, which meant one gang or member of that gang was one of the ogs of that gang.

This was soon adopted into rap where it came to have a broader sense of someone who initiated something, the first person to do something.

Eventually, this phrase was widely popularized by the music of rappers like Tupac and adopted into all forms of culture and expression.

Given the tediousness of writing out phrases in full with an alphanumeric keyboard, it’s no surprise that this handy and shorthand phrase was quickly swallowed up by the ever-expanding lexicon of texting abbreviations.

Since then, this phrase has come to have an ever-expanding application across many areas of life.

What does og mean on social media?

On social media, og generally means the same thing–original gangster.

Again, there are many different ways people might use this, but broadly speaking it’s used to indicate an extraordinary and perhaps originator of an artform, craze, form of expression, new form of fashion, or just about anything.

If there are a lot of people doing something, and you can trace the origin of that thing to a single person or a handful of people, then on social media they will doubtless be referred to as the “ogs” of the given thing.

What else does og mean on Fortnite?

Fortnite is one of the arenas where this phrase has become even more common and popular and has, you might say, been revived once again.

To be an og on Fortnite simply means that you are a highly skilled player who has been playing the game for a very long time, and there are often things you can use to tell when someone played the game in the early days, like the skins they have or use.

The phrase, even in this context, is still just an abbreviation of “original gangster”, even though it has obviously nothing whatsoever to do with gangsters!

Understanding this should help you understand the phrase in whatever context it is used.

It can sound like a slightly confusing phrase to anyone who has never heard it before.

But the truth is a lot more simple than how this expression sounds.

It just means that something was doing something perhaps before anyone else, that they’ve just been doing it for a long time, or even that they’re just extremely good at something.

Don’t let the word “gangster” trip you up–it means so much more than that!

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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