In Defence Of The Word 'Jogger'

IF YOU WANT to get under a runner's skin, a pretty good bet is that you could do so by calling them a 'jogger'.

- Theo Kahler

To many, the word stings like a wasp. The thinking is that being labelled a jogger is condescending, that it implies you are a slower, less-serious version of a runner. Real runners run. Joggers are people who aren't consistent, or don't truly understand the sport.

I think we should be using the word more. To me, a jogger is not a slow runner, it's someone who is running slowly. And slow, of course, is relative.

As professional marathoner Noah Droddy put it, "Jog vs. Run is an effort distinction, not a speed distinction. I ran yesterday, so I jogged today." According to the New York Times, there are 645 definitions for the word 'run', which makes it the word with the highest number of meanings in the entire English language. You can run a business, run on fumes, run out of time. There are so many ways to use the word. So many that you start to see why the mainstream media often use 'jogger' in place of 'runner'. (Side note: when joggers make the news, it feels like it's usually for something bad. Joggers get attacked by wild animals, or find dead bodies in the woods. 

A jogger is essentially the sporting version of Homer Simpson, or the 'Florida Man' meme.)