WHERE DOES SPLOOT COME FROM?
Sploot is part of a growing lexicon of
DoggoLingo, which uses cute, deliberate misspellings and
onomatopoeias like
mlem,
blep,
smol,
borf, and
heckin to fawn over man’s best friend online—and the many, many pictures and videos we post of them.
While the exact origins of
sploot are unclear, lexicographer Grant Barrett of the
A Way with Words radio show has suggested that the term
sploot may riff on the word
splat to characterize the
splat-like (flat, spread-out) appearance of a
sploot pose. This wordplay mirrors other changes made to existing words in DoggoLingo, like the substitution of
chonky for
chunky.
Sploot is especially associated with
corgis, a squat breed of dogs with very short legs. The use of
sploot, as associated with pets, is evidenced by at least 2012. Similar terms for the same pose is
frog-legging and
frogging.
Prior to the popularity of DoggoLingo,
sploot had occasionally been used as a slang term for … messy, wet bodily functions or excretions.
EXAMPLES OF SPLOOT
One commission done, another about done! time to sploot for the night and chill.
@ElliShypotato, January 1, 2021
Sirid Kellermann of Stillwater says this is Lupe, a six-month-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. She’s very energetic, but is also happy to “sploot” down anywhere, including the middle of the tennis court.
Reader Pet of the Week,
Star Tribune, July 13, 201
WHO USES SPLOOT?
While
sploot is closely connected to corgis, other animals, from pet turtles to polar bears at zoos, can be described as
splooting. As the previous sentence illustrates,
sploot can be a noun for the pose itself as well as a verb for the act of
splooting.
Variations on
sploot include
side sploot (legs stretched to the side),
half sploot (one leg stretched back), and
reverse sploot (when the furry friend is lying on its back, not belly).
Due to the popularity of DoggoLingo terms,
sploot is even sometimes used for, say, when humans “veg out” or “crash” on the couch after a long day!
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This is a good one!