Rawdogging - From Taboo to Trend: How Words Change Meaning
April 17, 202611 min · 1,359 words
Show notes
We recently heard a term that seemed strange to us, but your generation may hear that word very differently. Some of Jim’s students admitted to rawdogging most of their life experiences . This left the dynamic duo to muse, “If we’re ‘rawdogging life’—without reflection, without tools—what does that do to our well-being?” What would Victor Frankel say? Or Shakespeare or George Orwell? We tend to think of slang as something new—or even a decline in language. But Shakespeare was doing the same thing. The difference is, his slang became literature… and ours is still working its way through TikTok. We laugh at modern slang like ‘rawdogging,’ but Shakespeare’s audiences were enjoying jokes with just as much edge. The difference? Time has sanitized them. What was once a wink… now feels like literature. LEARN MORE Ted Talk on how language shapes of thoghts: https://youtu.be/RKK7wGAYP6k?si=toDu888WvqYVF-Xc The neuroscience of words: https://youtu.be/5-QQDTqLMWA?si=Eq8kmT64DYJcwjXV How languages evolved: https://youtu.be/iWDKsHm6gTA?si=pAuPvnSlB1Om7e7g
Highlighted moments
“how a term that originally had to do with The non-use of a condom Or non-use of prevention In sexual intercourse Comes to be a term That is now a pretty positive term In the language”
“Raw dogging has come to mean Doing something without preparation Or without any assistance from AI Or computer generated stuff Of one kind or another Not looking up something on Google Just going in with your own intellect”
“Lay on your lap Had a very different Connotation And Shakespeare's Viewers Of the play At that time Would have known it”
“We tend to think That There are things That are Permanent And the bottom Line is I think Nothing is Permanent Including our Language”
Transcript
0:00Jim Carroll, Ralph Baber, psychology takeaway You need a dose of the real, life's absurd, we know the deal Did you hear? Don't let it get you down Turn that frown, upside down, upside down, down, down Hey there, this is Jim and Ralph
0:30Hey Ralph, a special guest Back again Okay, so no empty chair today, we have Ralph in the studio In the studio How have you been? Just like a bad penny, you can't get rid of me Okay, well, it's good to see you here, Ralph Well, it's good to be back I'm looking forward to being seen, if such is an okay thing to say And I can tell you that we have a very strange term
1:03Which is kind of a philosophical term, kind of a psychology term That we're going to talk about today But in part of my therapy, rehab, getting back to what passes me for normal You've never been normal, Ralph I know, nobody's normal But anyway I think I'm normal You're wrong Anyway, I was in rehab for about three and a half weeks They used the term physical
1:39Physical torture? Physical torture, yes I had physical torture twice a day And now I'm back to only needing a cane And I hope to be done with that in another month or so And it's all good Except where we introduce our term Well, let's see You probably, last time I visited you in the rehab unit You were watching a lot of television I was
2:09And that taught me at the end of the first three or four days That television in terms of commercial channels Really sucks these days Because it's five minutes of television and 15 minutes of commercials Or that seems to be the way it goes So I read But I could only read so much And my eyes would feel like I took them out and dredged them in cayenne pepper So I did a lot of what I later learned to call raw dogging
2:45Now, get your mind out of the gutter That has nothing to do with what you're thinking I don't know even what I'm thinking when I hear that word But yeah, I heard it last week for the first time And that's why we're doing this podcast Because I had not a clue as to what the word meant I talked to my students on Monday, I guess it was And they all knew it was a word that's in their lexicon But certainly not in mine So I started to think about that
3:18In terms of how language develops And why language develops And how a term that originally had to do with The non-use of a condom Or non-use of prevention In sexual intercourse Comes to be a term That is now a pretty positive term In the language In the language And the thing is now Raw dogging has come to mean
3:51Doing something without preparation Or without any assistance from AI Or computer generated stuff Of one kind or another Not looking up something on Google Just going in with your own intellect And saying this is what we have Yeah So I asked the students If they had an example of it
4:22Go out and do a reading In front of the auditorium Or to do a play And people would call to you As you went out on stage Break a leg Oh yeah You've had some experience with that Break a hip Okay so Break a leg Makes me think of theater And Shakespeare Used a lot of language That was I suppose Understood by the people
4:54Of today But we might not get it at all Right? Yeah And one of the things That Those of us Who have had the Delight And Also Unfortunate Experience Of teaching Shakespeare Is A lot of our students Say This doesn't mean anything And you say Let me give you the translation And so you take What Shakespeare said And you translate it Into modern terms
5:24And So for the example Hamlet Says To his His Love life Can I Can I lay on your lap? Okay And she says Oh No And he says Oh Sorry I meant Can I lay my head On your lap? And she says Yes you can So Lay on your lap Had a very different
5:55Connotation And Shakespeare's Viewers Of the play At that time Would have known it Mm-hmm And that Double entendre Would have caused them To laugh Whereas your students Say What is this What does this mean? This is just stupid Yeah And some of it Is Really interesting I can remember One play And I Can't remember The name of the play And I can't remember The character I asked Chad GTP About it And he said
6:26No This line Never occurred But I think it did Thinkest me A hovel Or a cudgel post Okay Okay A hovel Apparently meant A stick Or a cudgel post Meant something That you would Tie your mule up to But that's my recollection Okay And I I I am not a Shakespearean
6:56Scholar With great depth But I can tell you That in All of the plays That I Have read Which I think Is pretty much All of them I don't remember That line Well Chad GTP Didn't either But It sounds Very Shakespearean Yeah And the thing is You can get away With something That sounds Very Shakespearean Without Usually Being told You're misquoting And so
7:26You say to yourself Okay I can do that So You know In Romeo and Juliet We've got Mercutio Says a line Which basically Is To Romeo You're You're way Over the top Here with this Romantic poetry That you're writing To Juliet You know This stuff Is just trash And Again Students Who hear that Don't
7:56Get it Usually You know Yeah And Or Or the witches In Macbeth So fair and foul A day I have not seen Now It's not The witches But It was the scene Where the witches Were Yeah So how can you Have a fair day And a foul day Well It wasn't fair From a weather Point of view So it was foul But it was a fair day If you're going to go out And do in Who Macbeth Macbeth Yeah You're going to curse Macbeth
8:27So The language That we knew 400 years ago Well That you and I knew 400 years ago Because we're about That old Yeah Has changed dramatically Over the last Four centuries Yeah Just as The new language New words Have been introduced Into our vocabulary And later on When you go to Learn more There are three Really good Examples
8:57Of language And the use of language And how it has Changed and evolved Over time So I encourage All of our Listeners and our viewers To click on Learn more And a sample of these Yeah And one of the Things about this Is You know We We tend to think That There are things That are Permanent And the bottom
9:28Line is I think Nothing is Permanent Including our Language And what we're Using today Whether it's Derived from TikTok Like raw Dogging Or I'm sure There was A computer Meme That happened Earlier For Cornholing The Thing is 25 years From now People Will be saying
9:59What's that Mean You know It will have Changed Since then Subsequently Well On that Note Ralph We just say This episode Was so bad It was sick Let's see if I get The right button Here today Okay We'll try it We're raw Dogging it Today Because Alex Isn't here But we'll see If this one Works Well We're in Serious danger Because we Were left Unsupervised Indeed Well welcome
10:37Back Ralph Good to have You here It's good To be here And Until next time This is Jim And Ralph Saying Keep your stick On the ice Because we're all In this Together Together Here we go.