Category Archives: Digital

-maxxing and -mogging joke

Text:

This folk joke is when someone adds the word “maxxing” to whatever adjective, action, noun, or verb to describe what another person is doing, and adds the word “mogging” to compare themselves to another. The punchline/joke can only be understood by fans of an online influencer named Clavicular, as for outsiders, the phrase simply sounds unnecessarily complex or nonsensical. For context, Clavicular is an influencer best known for looksmaxxing content, which is a term for an online trend where one goes through drastic changes in their daily routine to optimize their physical appearance; while it initially started off with the intention of increasing your self-confidence, the general connotation nowadays is negative, as many view the trend to be extreme and over fixated on physical experience. An example of this joke would be if I was to walking into my apartment and see my roommate studying, I could simply say, “Wow you’ve been studying all day – you’re so much more disciplined than me.” In contrast, a fan of Clavicular in this situation would say “Wow you’ve been studymaxxing all day – you’re lowkey disciplinemogging me”.

Context:

This informant is a 19 year old USC sophomore from Irvine, California, who studies environmental science. He also is my suitemate this year, and he told me a variation of this joke when he saw me scrolling on my phone, explaining that I was “scrollmaxxing and lazymogging him”. After explaining the joke to me, he told me that he saw this joke from an Instagram Reels video of Clavicular using this same joke, and says he loves using this joke on a daily basis.

Analysis:

This piece of internet folklore, which started from just a niche fanbase, demonstrates the huge effects folklore and internet transmission can have, particularly among gen-z, as we are the first generation that grew up with this technology and internet access. The specific words that make up this joke, maxxing and mogging, not only function as insider vocabulary that can help this folk group’s members identify each other, but the fixed structure of the joke creates room for all sorts of variation and creativity. To add, with short-form content platforms like IG Reels, TikTok, and Youtube Shorts with countless clips of Clavicular circling around, it only takes a couple of swipes for these clips to find their way to people’s algorithms, showing the limitless capacity of the internet in terms of transmission.

Finally, it’s important to note that just like the ridiculous nature of the joke, what makes such looksmaxxing content and influencers like Clavicular famous is the shear absurdity that makes it hard to turn away from what they are doing. These types of media over fixate on minute flaws within one’s appearance, and often recommends ridiciulous and dangerous methods like jaw-smashing (smashing one’s face with hard objects to reshape their jawline) that only fuels insecurities and unrealistic beauty standards for young, impressionable boys and girls. As a result, the absurdity of this folk joke can serve as a parody to its own folk idea it was created around, reminding both the audience and user of the joke just how ridiculous this concept of looksmaxxing is.

Valorant 9-3 Curse

Age: 19

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“I play a game called Valorant and basically in ranked games there are like two halves of twelve rounds each and there is a well known curse among people that play the game that if a team is up 9-3 at the half then they’re cursed to lose the game. I swear it happens so much too like you’ll be easily winning the first half and it’ll be 9-3 and you’ll just lose bad in the second half. So yeah like me and my friends or even if you’re playing with teammates if you’re down 9-3 people will say like oh it’s the 9-3 curse we’re gonna win and stuff like that.”

Context
JC says that the 9-3 curse has existed since the early days of Valorant around 2020/2021 and pretty much everybody involved with the game knows what it is. He says he vividly remembers moments where he was up 9-3 and lost as well as moments where he was down 9-3 and came back, but doesn’t remember other comebacks or blown leads as vividly. JC says that more times than not, if the score is 9-3, someone will bring up the curse.

Analysis
As someone that also plays Valorant, the 9-3 curse is definitely a legend that has blossomed and stuck among the game’s folk group over the years. No one knows who started or popularized the curse, but it spread extremely fast orally through being mentioned in ranked games and by streamers. As such, it’s a great example of Peck’s discussion of digital folklore, as it was created online and spread asynchronously as well as orally and visually, and each time the 9-3 curse resulted in a comeback only served to add to the legend. The curse is not particularly evidence based, but because of its infamy as a curse, all of us in the Valorant folk group will always remember losing 9-3 leads way more than any other scoreline, which shows how the belief is social and situational because it fits into the lore and the Valorant world. For losing teams, the 9-3 curse has become a way to manage the uncertainty of the game’s result, and something to back you (or predict the future) as you try to mount a come back.

Sonic.EXE

Context: The informant, GV, describes their knowledge of Sonic.EXE, a well-known horror creepypasta online.

GV: “I accidentally found out about it when I was like 8 scrolling through Youtube. I saw someone playing the game and got really scared because it just depicted this demonic-looking Sonic with blood everywhere. It was like a gameplay of three different characters and then after he kills them all, there’s a jumpscare in the end saying ‘I am god.’ When I found it again, I didn’t know that there was like lore to it. So there was this dude that got a haunted copy of the original Sonic game and he played it and after he got to the end it took his soul and trapped him in the game. I didn’t know it was considered a creepypasta since I don’t really know much about creepypastas. It’s also super popular too. I’ve seen different renditions of it online.”

Analysis: The informant describes their story on the popular online horror character Sonic.EXE, a creepypasta that tells that story of a haunted video game that steals your soul and traps it in the game seemingly forever. Creepypastas are a common form of telling stories through internet horror and they have recently seen a rise in popularity in part to users online continuing to expand their stories. This seems to apply to Sonic.EXE, where many fan renditions depict Sonic.EXE in their own way.

Stan Character Edit Posts

Context: The informant, MV, explains the Phenomenon of online videos depicting characters from different pieces of media in “stan edit posts” that show their admiration for said character.

MV: “Online, there’s a bunch of different videos that basically consist of putting different pictures of a character and adding different transitions in between which makes it an edit. Basically a bunch of different fandoms make stan edits of their favorite characters in said fandom and post it online for others to see. They usually add really popular music to help the edit gain more attraction. I think they first started on twitter where people were making edits of different Kpop idols since stan culture is super popular in that fandom but I think that’s a different topic. They’re pretty much everywhere on social media like if u opened Insta [Instagram] right now, you’d probably find one within like a few scrolls. I honestly wish I could edit like some people can I think it’s a really great way to show your devotion to a specific character. “

Analysis: “stan character” edit videos have become a popular style of short videos through social media, mainly seen on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. These short usually consist of rapid transitions between clips and high uses of effects. The edits are usually accompanied by pop music, usually music that’s recognizable enough to be seen by others. The edits of characters are created in order to show admiration towards the character and express appreciation towards the specific media being depicted. These edits first originated online on the platform Twitter/X, where users online made different edits/compilations of different Kpop idols. This type of editing style has since then dispersed onto other forms of media such as for characters in pop culture such as in TV Shows or video games.

The Phrase “Lock in”

Context: The use of the phrase “lock in” has become widely used by many, especially from the younger generation (Example: gen-z)

MC: “Basically when something gets like super serious, usually someone will say ‘it’s time to lock in’ or ‘let’s lock in.’ Its basically like telling someone or usually a group of people that they have to focus to like win something like in a game or a race.”

Q: Do you know when you first started hearing the phrase?

MC: “Maybe like around the middle of senior year in high school (2023-24) when I heard people shouting it during football games or during track practice and it used a lot on social media like TikTok and Reels.”

Analysis: The phrase “lock in” has become a commonly used slang that was popularized through social media. Telling someone to “lock in” means telling someone to enter a state of focus/concentration in order for them to excel at their best. It has become a commonly used term, especially in common activities such as studying, work, or sports. It’s been seen as a positive term in order to motivate people to try their best.