Where This "Wog" Comes From
In the illness sense — "I've got a wog" meaning a cold, flu, or stomach bug — "wog" has a distinct history from the ethnic slur with which it shares a spelling. The illness sense refers to a germ, parasite, or the sickness they cause, and is classified in major dictionaries as 20th century in origin and "of unknown origin." One proposed connection is a dialectal British word "wog" meaning to twitch or move irregularly — a possible metaphor for the restless discomfort of illness — but this has not been confirmed as the source.
The distinction matters in Australian use: the illness "wog" is entirely non-derogatory and freely used in everyday speech — "the kids all came down with a wog," "I can't shake this wog" — without any connection to the racial slur sense. The two words happen to share a spelling but are treated as separate entries in most dictionaries. No documented moment of coinage exists for the illness sense, and the Australian National Dictionary lists it as Australian English without a confirmed etymology.
Source: Wikipedia — “Wog”
"I've got a bit of a wog, I might head home early."
A note on this entry
This word has two completely unrelated meanings in Australian English. This page covers only the older, informal sense above — a minor bug or illness, as in "I've got a touch of the wog." It's a fairly obscure, dated usage today.
The same word is also, much more commonly, a genuinely offensive ethnic slur historically directed at people of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and South Asian descent, and it's still widely recognised that way. That sense isn't covered here, and this entry shouldn't be read as endorsing or downplaying it.
How Aussies Actually Use It
In this sense, it's used the same way you'd say "I've caught a bug" or "I'm coming down with something" — a mild, non-serious illness, usually a cold or flu-like bug.
This usage is uncommon today and mostly heard from older speakers; because of the word's much more prominent offensive meaning, most Australians now avoid it altogether, even in this original, unrelated sense.
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