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.