I know you are probably wondering.. why DAG? Let me tell you all about it.

DAG started as an errant thought in my head, as most ideas do.

I had no idea that it had actual meanings out in the world. My mind is constantly spinning out catchphrases and jingles without my consent. There I was minding my own business when it popped into my head. DAG. Daggers. ON POINT. Made me laugh.

I’ve always wanted to make up a word and see if I could get it to stick in the world. It has now become something of a joke with a few of my people. We started saying ‘That’s dag‘ ironically, like someone would say ‘that’s sick’ or ‘that’s hot’. Another phrase was issued, dagliners. That’s for when a song, movie, or book has a line so good you wistfully wish you wrote it yourself. It’s a very small pool of people, don’t let me fool you into thinking its a big thing. It’s not.. but this makes it delicious to me and special.

What Dag Means To Me

It became kind of a thing for me personally. I think about it a lot. In my opinion as a species we should all be trying to continually do better, stay ‘on point’, if you will. I so desire to always be learning and thinking, and hopefully, improving. Stay ‘on point’! Whatever that means to you. You now get a first row seat of watching me try if you choose to stick around. What a prize to win! Please subscribe.

Firstly:

I want DAG to be a place where I can vomit all my thoughts and ideas out, because my TBI addled brain never stops. I need to get it all out of there, there are so many ideas in my head. My grandmother, (universe rest her soul), once told me “If you have thought of something great and you can’t find it out in the world, its your responsibility to create it.” To be honest I am also a bit lonely, and it’s making we weird. I’ve been having a hard time, been going through so much.. even though I feel like I’ve been doing everything I can to be a stable human. Makes me feel helpless. So here’s an experiment.

I see other people struggling too, I see so much misinformation. I wanna help even if it’s in a small, mental-health-JUST-BREATHE-with-me way. The world we are in is so full and fast and no one can possibly keep up with all of it. We aren’t built for this. I personally forget so much with my own memory issues, that this might just become some kind of back up brain catalogue I can pull from. So whether anyone reads this or not, it will be extremely useful to me. If you are reading this though, let’s struggle together maybe, shall we? (watch her struggle in real time!) I need to make some space for myself to exist, where I can share even when I’m goblin-ing in my bedroom or feeling supremely sick.

Secondly:

I’ve gotten into lots of things these days. I dabble in designing, graphic design, digital design, real world design, content creation of all kinds, SEO, social media management, art, music, the list goes on. Bit of a renaissance woman and I don’t think I show it enough. Also creating whatever whim has popped into my head is where I am happiest. This is now a place to show my portfolio, my dag creations, my thoughts. I want to work, really. Maybe, just maybe… someone will read it and at least just.. feel less alone. I am no expert, take it with a grain of salt. MY THERAPIST SAYS I have a lot to share, I’ve learned a lot through much pain and error, and I haven’t been sharing. Silly, right? Anyway..

DAG DEFINITIONS

The most official definition of Dag is ‘a lock of wool matted with dung hanging from the hindquarters of a sheep.’ Hilarious. It hails from Australia, and oh boy do they have some slang for it too.  

Ol’ English dag basically means ‘a challenge’ or “Dag-nabbit ma, the dog got out again” which is a kind of example of a “taboo deformation”. That’s where someone is trying not to swear (damn) and replaces it with a slightly similar word (dag). Creativity! It also is old timey slang for a small concealed dagger. Fun!

Dag can also mean ‘an entertainingly eccentric person; a character‘. “Your friend must have been a bit of a dag”.

Lastly it can be also be interpreted as ‘an unfashionable person; a person lacking style or character; a socially awkward individual.’

Somehow I simultaneously relate to all of these definitions, and it makes the word all the more close to my heart. My definition is now all the things, it’s everything, it’s simply being. It’s all DAG. 

So I present to you, DAG. A challenge, nay, a call to action, a call to give yourself permission to think and to be yourself and do things. For your entertainment:

DAG = DAGGERS = ON POINT: Ideas for wellness, business, and creative rebellion — by Clotele