What does ‘Poggers’ mean? Famous Twitch emote’s origin and usage

Poggers is one of the most recognizable and widely used emotes across Twitch.

The frog-like character is meant to express joy, excitement, or pleasant shock. Extremely popular among larger Twitch communities, it’s not uncommon to see massive waves of Poggers spam over slight victories or achievements.

As one of the original third-party emotes, Poggers has inspired a wide array of variants, including PogSlide, Poggies, and even the more ironically used Poogers. Twitch users can use and view the Poggers emote and more by installing BTTV, a widely used third-party extension for the streaming platform.

Poggers’ origins

Both in name and image, Poggers is a mixture of two different emotes. PogChamp is a global Twitch emote that was created soon after the launch of Twitch, featuring streamer Gooteck’s face in a similarly exuberant expression. In September 2017, PogChamp was combined with the popular Pepe the Frog character, a source of controversy that spawned on 4Chan but has since taken a new life of its own on Twitch.

Soon after its popularization, Poggers became widely used across the gaming scene and proliferated across Fortnite, League of Legends, and other related communities. The emote was among the few to escape sole usage on Twitch and somewhat enter into the public vernacular as it could be seen on Twitter and other social media platforms.

When to use Poggers

Poggers is a context-heavy emote. Its rise in popularity has led to both genuine and ironic usage. The emote is typically used to express excitement over an event that may have happened on screen, such as the streamer winning a game, making an impressive play, or recounting a good story. In specific Twitch communities, by the time you recognize a moment worthy of typing Poggers, there will likely already be pages of spam.

Given its acceptance into the internet mainstream, Poggers can also be used ironically on something that is deemed boring, mundane, or overplayed. Though you may see this across Twitch, other emotes have typically filled this more mocking role.