Doge (meme) facts for kids
Doge (pronounced like DOHJ or DOHG) is a super popular Internet meme that first became famous in 2013. A meme is like a funny picture, video, or phrase that spreads quickly online. The Doge meme usually shows a picture of a Shiba Inu dog named Kabosu. On top of the picture, there's colorful text written in a font called Comic Sans. This text is meant to sound like the dog's thoughts, but it's written in a funny, "broken" English style.
The meme started with a photo taken in 2010. It really took off in late 2013 and was even named the "top meme" of that year by a website called Know Your Meme. The Shiba Inu dog became very well-known in pop culture. In fact, a special type of digital money called Dogecoin was even created based on the Doge meme in December 2013. Many online polls and news sites have said that Doge is one of the best Internet memes from the 2010s.
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How Doge Memes Are Made
Doge memes often use two-word phrases. The first word is almost always one of these five: "so", "such", "many", "much", or "very". The funny part is that these words are used in a way that isn't grammatically correct. For example, instead of saying "Much respect, so noble," a Doge meme might say "Much noble, so respect." This makes the phrases sound silly and unique.
Often, a Doge phrase will end with a single word like "wow," "amaze," or "excite." Since the meme became popular, lots of different versions and spin-offs have been created.
The Story of Kabosu and Doge
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Kabosu and Atsuko Sato in 2023
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| Other name(s) | Kabo-chan (かぼちゃん) |
|---|---|
| Species | Dog |
| Breed | Shiba Inu |
| Sex | Female |
| Born | November 2, 2005 |
| Nation from | Japan |
| Notable role | Internet celebrity |
| Years active | 2010–present |
Kabosu (pronounced kah-boh-soo) is the female Shiba Inu dog who stars in the original Doge meme. She was born around November 2, 2005. Kabosu was a purebred dog who ended up in an animal shelter when the place she was born at closed down. In 2008, a Japanese kindergarten teacher named Atsuko Sato adopted her. Sato named her Kabosu after a type of citrus fruit because she thought Kabosu had a round face like the fruit.
The first pictures of Kabosu that became famous were from a blog post Sato made in 2010. Later, people started adding the colorful Comic Sans text to these pictures on a Tumblr blog called Shiba Confessions.
The word "Doge" itself, spelled incorrectly on purpose, actually appeared earlier. It was used in June 2005 in a puppet show from Homestar Runner. The meme really started to gain attention after it was shared on Reddit in October 2010.
Other dogs have also become part of the Doge meme world:
- Cheems is based on a dog named Balltze from Hong Kong.
- Walter is based on a bull terrier named Nelson. Nelson became popular in 2018 after his owner posted a funny picture of him on Twitter.
In late 2022, it was reported that Kabosu, who was 17 years old, was very sick with leukemia.
Most people say "Doge" like DOHJ or DOHG. Sometimes, people who don't know the meme might say it like "dodge" or even just "dog."
How Doge Spread
People started searching for the Doge meme more and more in July 2013. By December 2013, Know Your Meme officially called Doge the "top meme" of the year.
In December 2013, a new type of digital currency called Dogecoin was created. It was special because it was the first digital currency to be based on an Internet meme.
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In 2021, the original Doge meme picture was sold as an NFT. An NFT is a special digital item that shows you own a unique piece of digital art or content. This Doge NFT was then split into smaller parts so more people could own a piece of it.
Doge in Pop Culture
Doge has appeared in many places in popular culture:
- In mid-2014, a public transport company in Stockholm, Sweden, used Doge in their ads. Doge was shown holding a ticket with funny phrases like "many summer" and "such cheap."
- Google made a Doge Easter egg. If you typed "doge meme" into the YouTube search bar, all the text on the site would change to colorful Comic Sans, just like the meme.
- In January 2014, two web developers created Doge Weather. This was a website and app that showed the weather using Doge meme phrases.
- From 2016 to 2020, a software project called Mozilla's Servo even used Doge in its logo!
- Between April 3 and 7, 2023, Twitter (now called X) replaced its famous bird logo with an image of Doge for a few days. People thought it might have been a late April Fools' Day joke.
See also
In Spanish: Doge para niños
