Jogging

Niall O'Donnell 5 Comments

I heard this word today, and I realised how strange it sounds. Especially when you could also say running. And I continued thinking: does jogging, the exercise, have anything to do with jogging your memory? Let’s see.

Yes.

The verb to jog dates back to 16th century, when it meant to shake up and down. It’s exact etymology is unclear, but it seems to have been related to the Middle English shoggen (to shake, jolt, or jerk).

It was first used to refer to exercise in 1948, originally referring to a training regimen for athletes. This use of the word might be derived from its use in horsemanship, in which jogging referred to a light warm-up exercise (to jog, shake the muscles before a race).

So jogging basically means shaking or jolting, which is fairly logical, as that’s kind of what you’re doing to your limbs/muscles when you go jogging.

And to your memory too: if you try to jog your memory, it’s like you give it a little shake to help you remember.

Oh, one more thing.

I said at the beginning that you could say running instead of jogging. The two are strictly different, with jogging referring to anything below 6mph, and running anything above.

5 thoughts on “Jogging”

  2. There is another distinction. Running is a rewarding and challenging activity requiring great mental strength and physical stamina, undertaken by the highly disciplined, in hail, rain or shine.

    Jogging is for those who spend a fortune on gear; watches, spandex, shiny new runners, etc. and go to the park in fine weather to amble around for half an hour getting in the way of real people, while spending only a fraction of that time actually ‘exercising’ and most of the time taking selfies for Instagram.

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  3. Oooh interesting. I had no idea that the difference between jogging and running was down to the speed. So for most people, they’ll start jogging, then when they improve, they’ll be able to go running. 😀

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