Words Worth Knowing: Frag
Words Worth Knowing was a vertical I wrote weekly explaining key pieces of gaming jargon to parents, guardians and teachers, as part of the larger overall GameHub outreach effort. The column ran for nearly two years and resulted in around 60 WWK articles. GameHubHQ.com closed in late 2017. This piece originally appeared on Nov 16, 2015.
What is a frag, what do you need to know about fragging and why do you need to care?
What It Is: Frag = [to kill with a] fragmentation grenade
What It Means: Frag has two interconnected meanings. One is simply the abbreviated form of the word "fragmentation grenade," the standard issue basic hand-grenade common to most war-themed games. The other form is a more general sysnonym for to kill or to destroy, eg “I got fragged” or “Somebody frag the leader!” A a term from the US military, frag originally meant specifically "to kill with a fragmentation grenade" and, popularised by the CounterStrike franchise, over time simply came to mean "kill" - the most reliable way to achieve that in the game being through judicious application of a thrown grenade.
Why You Care: Its natural to be concerned when your children start using words that you have no idea what they mean, especially after playing a video-game! Luckily though, this one isn't something to be concerned about. "Frag" and "fragging" are innocent terms. If your kids start talking about "tea-bagging" however, you might have slightly more cause for concern!
