Raw Dogging

There I was last week, innocently minding my own business, eating my breakfast, when Ernie announced:  “I think I might raw dog it.”

I nearly choked on my spoonful of mixed acai berry yogurt.  I didn’t know what raw dogging was, but my immediate thoughts went to something nasty and I wondered, frighteningly, if it would need to involve me in any way.

I sputtered, “What in the hell is raw dog it?”

He smiled, laughed, and said, “Oh, you haven’t heard of this?”

Turns out, that the trend of taking an activity and giving it a catchy name, branding it as cool, continues apace.  To the list of Girl Dinner, Fart Walk, Hot Girl Walk, we can now add Raw Dog.

Basically, this is guys getting in on the action.  A little bro-speak to add to the repertoire.

Raw dogging is a trend that a lot of guys are now engaging in when traveling, primarily on an airplane, but it can be any mode of transportation that involves a length of time and you are not behind the wheel.

That trend is, wait for it.  No, seriously, and literally, wait for it.  It’s not doing anything.  Just sitting there.  Not reading, not listening to music, not sleeping, not conversing, not working.  Just. Sitting. There.  You are awake and staring mindlessly into space.  Some would say it is akin to meditation or mindfulness, but I would say, as someone who practices both, it really quite isn’t. 

There is an activity you are engaging in when you are meditating and being mindful.  This is really the absence of anything, any activity at all.  Making your mind a complete blank.  Which, for some people, myself included, isn’t much of a stretch or too hard to do.  At my age, unfortunately, my mind goes blank far more than…oh wait, what was I saying?

For those of you who are Seinfeld fans, think of the episode where Elaine and Puddy are traveling on a plane together.  Elaine looks over at Puddy who is just sitting there, staring into space. 

The scene went something like this:

She asks, “Do you want something to read?”

He replies, “Nah, I’m good.”

“Are you gonna take a nap, or..”

“Nah”  

“You are just going to sit there staring at the back of the seat? ”

“Yeah”

Elaine then struggles with her composure before losing it and screaming at him that she can’t take it anymore.

Here’s the full clip for your viewing pleasure:

https://youtu.be/JBBQdFSvvTE?si=Hp7cnbXnRF16ifzu

Like a lot of Seinfeld, this is another example where they were ahead of their time.  They just didn’t have the social media savvy of today to coin a cool catchphrase for it.  But there was Puddy, raw dogging it, 30 years before it became a thing.

Ernie left for his trip to Las Vegas to see Dead and Company at The Sphere a few days ago.  Not sure if he ended up raw dogging it or not, as I forgot to ask (what were we saying about blank minds?).  I was more distracted hearing about some of his epic adventures. 

I’ll be sure to get the poop, er the scoop on Raw Dogging, when he gets back.

Meanwhile, as women start to participate in the trend, it remains to be seen whether the bro-speak of Raw Dog will morph into something less bro-y.  Maybe something like Zen Tending?

Either way, next time you are sitting next to someone on a plane and you see them staring blankly at the seat in front of them, you don’t have to worry if they are in need of medical assistance.