What Does It Mean to Call Someone “Dogwater”?

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This popular gaming slang, explained

Co-authored by Aimee Payne, MFA Reviewed by Anyah Le Gilmore-Jones

Last Updated: June 28, 2024 Fact Checked

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“Dogwater” Meaning & Usage

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“Dogwater” Origins

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Gaming Insults Similar to “Dogwater”

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Common Gaming Slang

If you’re a member of the gaming community, you may have heard the term “dogwater” being thrown around, especially while playing Fortnite. This popular slang term started out as an insult used to mock other players, but gamers have started using it outside of the gaming world. Read on to find out what “dogwater” means, how it’s used, and where it came from.

What Does “Dogwater” Mean?

“Dogwater” means that someone is “extremely bad” or “trash” at something, usually video games. The insult was first used by Fortnite players to mock the skills of another player they had defeated in the game.

Section 1 of 4:

“Dogwater” Meaning & Usage

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“Dogwater” is a slang term meaning “extremely bad” or “trash.” It’s used to say that someone (or something) is bad, usually related to gaming. It’s a way to talk trash to degrade and discourage another player at a lower skill level. The term has also become popular on other platforms like Twitch and TikTok, where it has a similar meaning to the phrase “you’re trash.”^{[1]
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Research source} Here are a few examples of how “dogwater” is used in a sentence:
- “You’re so bad, you’re free dogwater.”
- “Your aim is dogwater. You missed me, and I’m literally standing in front of you.”
- “This rifle is complete dogwater, man. It does zero damage.”
- “I wasted 2 hours on that dogwater game.”
- “This headset is dogwater. I can’t hear anything on it.”
- “Your team is so dogwater, this isn’t even fun anymore.”

Section 2 of 4:

“Dogwater” Origins

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The term was popularized by a Fortnite content creator named Zachology. In December 2020, he created a clip on Twitch where he used the term in a string of insults that parodied Piece Control Kyle, a fictional stereotypical professional Fortnite player.^{[2]
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Research source} “Dogwater” immediately caught on and became a common insult used by people who play Fortnite.
- A few believe “dogwater” comes from a faux ad for Dog Water from an episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show titled “Ren’s Retirement,” which aired on April 2, 1994.^{[3]
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  Research source} There’s no evidence that the terms are related.
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Gamers started using “dogwater” as an insult instead of using profanity. The game Fortnite has voice and text chat features that can be disabled or filtered for inappropriate language by using parental controls. Instead of using profanity for dog feces, players started using the term “dogwater” in the text chat.
- It’s also a form of algospeak, or words people use in videos or recordings they share on social media platforms to avoid being banned or penalized by the algorithms.^{[4]
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  Research source}
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Some think it’s a shorter version of “hot dog water.” A few people on Reddit forums believe “dogwater” refers to “hot dog water,” or the water left over after boiling hot dogs. There’s no confirmation that this is true.
- “Hot dog water” is also an insulting nickname for one of the animated Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated characters. Voiced by actress Linda Cardellini, Marcie “Hot Dog Water” Fleach was given the name because she smelled like recycled water used to boil hot dogs due to her father’s job at an amusement park.^{[5]
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  Research source}
- In March 2024, the convenience store chain 7-Eleven announced they were releasing sparkling water inspired by their signature Big Bite Hot Dog. The product was meant to be an April Fool’s Day joke, but the chain actually produced a limited supply.^{[6]
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  Research source}
In the 1960s, the term “dog water” referred to semen. Later, in the 1970s-80s, it was used to mean water that came from a dog or urine.^{[7]
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Research source} Neither seems connected with the modern slang term.

Section 3 of 4:

Gaming Insults Similar to “Dogwater”

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Gamers playing Fortnite use many terms to insult other gamers. Several of these terms are often used at the same time as “dogwater” to insult someone and mock their skill level and equipment. With an average of 230 million active players a month, these insults can get creative.^{[8]
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Research source} Many of the insults refer to how the winner defeated the loser. They may also say that the loser is “free,” which means they were so easily defeated it didn’t cost the winner anything. Other common themes are that players are so bad they have no earnings from competitive gameplay or use substandard equipment. A few examples of these insults are:
- “I boxed you like a fish.”
- “You’re freer than a Costco sample.”
- “That’s a Dollar Tree headset.”
- “You’re freer than a public bathroom.”
- “I caged you like a zoo animal.”
- “Take off that Goodwill headset. You’re done.”
- “You play like you have a pawn shop console.”
- “You’re freer than soiled underpants.”
- ”404 Earnings Not Found.”
- “You’re lost like your dad. He’s never coming home.”
- “You’re freer than a dollar-off coupon to Dollar Tree.”
- “You have no earnings.”

Section 4 of 4:

Common Gaming Slang

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Camper A camper is a player who is too scared to leave the safety of a hiding place. They stay in this hidden spot to avoid fighting until the battle ends. This is called “setting up camp.” Camping can also be a strategy, especially for newer players, as they learn how to play the game and build their skill level.
- “Jake is such a camper you never see him until the battle’s over.”
- “I’m going behind that wall over there to see if I can bag a camper.”
- “Watch out for that camper trying to third-party our duel.”
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Harry Pottered To be Harry Pottered is when a player gets trapped under a staircase or another player’s tower. It refers to the closet under the stairs where the title character from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (and the movies inspired by them) spent the early part of his life.
- “I was doing fine until I got Harry Pottered in that structure.”
- “Emily was building a 1x1 and Harry Pottered herself.”
- “That noob over there is going to Harry Potter themself under that ramp if they're not careful.”
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Spray & Pray Spray and pray is when a player fights by spraying bullets everywhere and praying they don’t get killed. It’s a tactic that is used to kill a large number of close opponents or damage another player’s structures. This type of fighting became popular in Seasons 4 & 5 of Fortnite.
- “When you’re in close quarters, sometimes you just have to spray & play to get out of it.”
- “I can’t believe I took out three enemies with that spray & play.”
- “Taylor sucks at aiming, so they just spray & play their way out of a battle.”
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YEET! Players use YEET! or YA-YEET! when throwing an object or another player in the game. While it’s used to mean “throw,” it also implies the object was forcefully thrown a long distance away. It’s often used to describe throwing something or shouted as you throw an object in the game.
- “Ava just yeeted that grenade into the building and got a triple kill!”
- “That guy just yeeted himself off a building when I attacked him. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
- “Oh, yeah! It looks like she’s going to throw a grenade. YEET!”