Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog, dressed as a doge of Venice
16 February 2025
Doge, pronounced / doʊ(d)ʒ /, is a variant of dog that became an internet meme and then a US government entity. It is an internet subculture in-joke that in 2025 became an official US government term, a shift that reflects upon the maturity of those appointed to high office by Donald Trump.
The word appears to have begun life on the web video series Homestar Runner, a puppet show whose two main characters are the titular Homestar and his villain/comedic straight man Strong Bad. Doge appears in this exchange in a video uploaded on 25 June 2005:
Strong Bad: Ah, I'm almost done with these third-quarter projection analysis spreadsheets and still no sign of . . .
Homestar: What is up, my dog?
Strong Bad: Arrgh! I am not your dog!
Homestar: Wandelman, you quack me up. Quack me up! That’s why you’re my D-O-G-E.
Strong bad: Your doge?! What are you talking about? I’m Strong Bad! Randleman works in regional shipping management resources.
Homestar: Ha, ha, ha. Good one, Wandleman. I mean good one, my dog! So are you going to beach-themed westaurant tonight? It’s ladies night. Music, dancing. They’ve got fake palm trees.
Internet memes using doge are commonly associated with pictures of Shiba Inu dogs, especially one named Kabosu. On 13 February 2010, Atsuko Sato posted some photos of Kabosu to his personal blog, and on 28 October 2010, someone reposted one of the photos, seen above, to the /r/Ads subreddit with the title “LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKEN DOGE.” The post received numerous upvotes on Reddit and was widely circulated.
Two years later, memes with the word doge associated with pictures of various dogs began appearing on Tumblr, Reddit, and 4chan. And by 2013, photos of various Shiba Inus, especially photos of Kabosu, started to dominate such posts. And in December 2013 a cryptocurrency with the name Dogecoin was launched. The logo of Dogecoin featured an image of Kabosu. Kabosu passed away at age eighteen on 24 May 2024, but the memes live on.
The shift to government use began on 19 August 2024 when Elon Musk announced on X.com that he would be willing to serve in a second Trump administration. His tweet was accompanied by an AI-generated image of Musk standing at a lectern labeled “D.O.G.E. Department of Government Efficiency.” On 20 January 2025, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump made DOGE official when he signed an executive order creating a Department of Government Efficiency (official name: “United States DOGE Service”) with Musk at its head. The organization is not an actual department, which would require an act of Congress, but actually a rebranding and redirection of the United States Digital Service, a part of the Executive Office of the President. The US Digital Service had been established by President Barack Obama in 2014 to improve the quality of federal government websites.
Under Musk, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has engaged in a number of acts to gain access to federal computer systems, especially those related to personnel and payments. They have gained access to classified information without the appropriate clearances, and in some cases have released classified information to the public. The legality of some of these acts is questionable, while others clearly violate federal law. Whether Musk and DOGE will be allowed to escape consequences for their illegal actions remains to be seen.
There is another word doge, referring to the highest magistrate of the Republic of Venice from the seventh to eighteenth centuries. This term is unrelated to the internet/US government doge. It is a borrowing from Italian and French, and its root is the Latin dux, leader, the same root that gives us the English duke and the Italian duce.
Sources:
Chapman, Matt and Mike Chapman. “Biz Cas Fri 1.” Homestar Runner, 24 June 2005. YouTube.com.
Know Your Meme, 30 January 2025, s.v. Doge.
Musk, Elon, @elonmusk. X.com, 19 August 2024.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, November 2010, s.v. doge, n.
Reddit.com, r/Ads, 28 October 2010. “LMBO LOOK @ THIS FUKKEN DOGE.”
Image credit: Dogemuchwow.com, 2019; Original photo by Atsuko Sato, 2010. Fair use of a copyrighted image to illustrate the topic under discussion.