A wug is a very clever device developed in the 1950s as a way of helping linguists understand how language skills develop in humans. Typically, a picture of a cute imaginary creature would be shown to a young child and they would be told “this is a Wug.” Next, the child would be shown a picture of two of the creatures and would be asked to finish the sentence “Now there are two of them, there are two ____.” Amazingly almost all of the children replied “Wugs” even though they had never heard the word before. This showed that children learn language not just by memorizing a long list of words but by instinctively understanding and applying grammatical rules that indicate things like plurality and tense, even to unfamiliar or made-up words.

PolyWug riffs on this idea. As humans we are all single individuals but instinctively present our identity in different ways, in different situations. Sometimes we are concise and formal, and sometimes we let our freak flag fly. It’s all a part of who we are and how we make trust decisions with others. Our little imaginary mascot represents the richness of people and their interactions in the world.

…plus it has a bit of a cute pollywog vibe going on.