Dag is an Australian and New Zealand slang term, also daggy (adjective).[1] In Australia, it is often used as an affectionate insult[2] for someone who is, or is perceived to be, unfashionable, lacking self-consciousness about their appearance and/or with poor social skills yet affable and amusing. It is also used to describe an amusing, quirky and likeable person who doesn't take themselves too seriously (as in, "He's a bit of a dag") and is non-pejorative. The term was more widely used in the 1970s due to the popular New Zealand comedy of Fred Dagg (John Clarke). The term may be simply affectionate, such as when it was used to describe the recipes in the enduringly popular The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book.[3]
Differentiated from bogans,[4] whose accents are presumed to indicate working class or uneducated origins, dag refers to being unfashionable, eccentric and fool-like[5] and hence has no necessary ties with social class or educational background.
The literal meaning is a dung-caked lock of wool around the hindquarters of a sheep – an abbreviation of "daglock".