Dogwater

About

Dogwater, also spelled Dog Water, is a slang expression used in video game trash talk to insult another player's skill. The expression is similar in meaning to "dogshit" and "trash." Popularized by Fortnite streamer Zachology in December 2020, the slang term saw viral spread on Twitch and with competitive video game communities, though it is also used outside gaming contexts to denote something is "trash."

Origin

The insult "dog water" originated in the Fortnite community in late 2020 and is likely a euphemism for "dogshit," used to avoid punishment by Twitch and social media platforms — a trend known as algospeak. On December 12th, 2020, Urban Dictionary^[1] user heyyyjon added a definition for the insult, defining it as, "when you're absolute garbage at a video game."

On December 18th, 2022, Fortnite streamer and content creator Zachology, acting as parody Piece Control Kyle character, uploaded^[2] a Fortnite clip with a freeze-frame during which he insulted the player he was about to kill in a creative fashion, calling them "dogwater" among other insults. The video (shown below, left) received over 2.8 million views and 361,000 likes on TikTok in one year. Following the success of the upload, Zachology uploaded multiple similar TikToks in which he creatively insulted players about to be killed, with his December 20th video^[3] gaining over 5.2 million views and 568,000 likes (shown below, right).

Where are you going, you're lost, Dollar Tree headset, so free, freer than a public restroom, you're literally dogwater, zero PR, earnings check? Oh, we have none.

The expression has also been used by other creators who used the Piece Control Kyle character, including @tdvex and @johnnyjitters0. On December 19th, 2020, YouTuber^[4] BonnyAB posted a compilation video of dogwater TikToks that received over 1.8 million views in one year (shown below).

Spread

Both videos achieved virality on TikTok as users used Zachology's insults as a sound effect for similarly styled clips of gaming and sports moments (examples shown below). The December 20th video achieved particular popularity, with over 42,300 videos using the soundbite uploaded to TikTok^[5] as of April 2022.

In early 2021, the insult spread across among major Twitch streamers, which was reflected with Ludwig, Dream and other popular streamers and YouTubers using the term in their posts. For example, on January 19th, 2021, Minecraft YouTuber Quackity tweeted^[6] a Dogwater copypasta that received over 6,600 retweets and 138,000 likes in one year, with fellow Dream SMP member Karl Jacobs replying^[7] with the same copypasta (shown below, left and center). On March 4th, 2021, streamer Ludwig used the word to describe his medical condition, with the tweet^[8] gaining over 1,000 retweets and 149,000 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Through 2021 and 2022, the insult cemented itself in gaming slang, being used extensively on Twitch and in gaming communities.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References