Western culture loves to label everybody and everything. Having been a fan of space stuff all my life I've been called all sorts of things from beatnik to wierdo. Fortunately you reach an age when it's not important anymore but being interested in words and how they overlap I often wonder if we agree what they actually mean.
The words are as follows: dweeb, airhead, nerd, swot, geek, boffin, buff and dork.
Would anyone like to have a go at defining them? Go on, you know you want to! [similar words from around the world welcomed!]
Okay here's some in Finnish (usage at own risk :-)
ReplyDeletedweeb - nynny
airhead - mäntti
nerd, geek - nörtti
swot - hikari
boffin - älypää
buff - friikki
dork - dorka
Interesting!
ReplyDeleteWell, I daresay the Oxford dictionaries would have proper definitions for most of those (askoxford.com). But based on contexts I've seen them in, general perceptions as well as how those words sound, here's my impression of what they'd mean:
dweeb: unpopular poor sod craving attention
airhead: self-descriptive - total vacuum between ears
nerd: unpopular poor sod (obsessively) immersed in own universe, oblivious to others
(I would've been considered a model-building nerd in my formative years, f ex, before the term got high-jacked to describe only computer-nerds).
swot: hard-working/studying nerd. The type of kid that would get excellent grades in school at the expense of popularity.
geek: unpopular poor sod suspected of (perceived) mental deficiency as well
boffin: pre-war term for academic/cerebral types in general, with overtones of nerdiness, idiosyncrasy if not outright excentricity.
(I was mightily amused to receive a visiting card from the IT chap of a London translating agency that actually stated 'boffin' as his job title!)
buff: more of an American term - somebody that knows an awful lot about a favourite topic/hobby/interest. Not derogatory afaik, esp since people describe themselves as such while being serious.
dork: somebody demonstrating uncouth/insensitive behaviour, and unaware of doing so.
Of the above, I'd say 'nerd' and 'buff' could apply particularly to collectors. Everything else could be applied to anybody perceived to be fitting a particular description.
The other remarks I've heard about collectors is that we're supposedly 'anal' as in 'anal-retentive' (go look it up yourself :) or obsessive or even egotistical. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not the only collector that has been called the last two by a non-collecting spouse. ;)
Sorry, forgot to sign my entry above...
ReplyDeleteBest -- Paul
@ Arto: you've just increased my Finnish vocabulary from 0 to 7 words, thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteYour translation of 'buff' does make me wonder what you'd call a 'freak' in Finnish though?
Which is another word I could've added to my list.
But where I always reply that I'm normality itself, for by -my- norms anybody normal or worthwhile is a collector!
Best -- Paul
aargh... blogger made me lose my original reply to Arto, and I missed a paragraph while hastily retyping:
ReplyDeleteFreak: person having noticeably abnormal interests (or behaviour), 'abnormal' in the simple sense of being different from the average Joe.
which led on to my view of what's normal.
Bye again -- Paul
Cheers guys, excellent discussion in english and finnish! I was howling at some of the definitions. Strange how a note of unpopularity creeps in to some of them. I love dweeb in finnish Arto - nynny, which sounds like ninny, which we have in the UK for someone who does daft/silly things [aka nit, twit, twerp, burke]. I'd forgotten about Freak Paul, which is odd as its used constantly in Schools by students. Another one I forgot was Anorak: "a person who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects. This interest may be unacknowledged or not understood by the general public. The term is sometimes used synonymously with geek or nerd, the Japanese term otaku, albeit referring to different niches.In 1984 the Observer newspaper used the term as an alternative term for the prototype group interested in detailed trivia, the trainspotters" {wiki]. Trainspotter, thats another one!
ReplyDeleteOoh, 'anorak' is indeed a good one, Mr Woods. Which in an etymological sense is indeed synonymous with trainspotters in that these most often wore anoraks on some forlorn rainy English station platform (I know this coz I also belong to the Hornby Railway Collectors Association, where members from previous generations often fondly reminisce about spotting this or that rare locomotive in their youth :)
ReplyDeleteMy frequent use of the word unpopular has a minor root from my own juvenile experience, but is mostly used to help describe a certain type of person. Distinct from the sporty crowd aka 'jocks' f ex.
A sporty crowd which can be just as nerdily obsessed by chasing after a leather ball (and/or people making a living from that very activity), which for some unfathomable reason seems to be more acceptable to the public at large. ;)
Best -- Paul
aha, jocks V. nerds, an age-old battle methinks. I had to laugh at part of Wiki's definiation of nerd after reading your last comment paul "Additionally, many nerds are described as being shy, quirky, and unattractive and may have difficulty participating in, or even following, sports". ha ha!
ReplyDeleteMeant to say it sounds like me! The sports bit I hasten to add!
ReplyDeleteIn the Merriam Websters New World Dictionaryunder 'Dork' it says; "See Ed 'ICE' Berg"
ReplyDelete@Ed: nothing dorky about that little boy in the little 10-gallon hat?
ReplyDelete@ Woodsy: no fear, the same would apply to me. Excepting the occasional informal game of baseball in the park (or clumsy ice hockey in winter), I really can't get much excited about sport, its practitioners or its fans.
And to score a point for the collectors vs jocks: I so far haven't heard of any space toy collectors going on a drunken rampage after losing out, whatever their nationality. So there!
Best -- Paul
Oh I see I have some catching up to do with this sprawling thread! Just to answer Paul V's question, a freak is 'friikki' as well. A film buff is 'leffafriikki' in Finnish.
ReplyDeleteAnd Paul remember, I won't take responsibility for your Finnish vocabulary should you decide to use it ;-)
So what's Finnish for the adjective "freaky" then, Arto, because that's what the noun 'sounds' like when I read it with my Dutch eyes?
ReplyDeleteI will from now on remember that word in particular (and the adjective once known). And probably find occasion to use it in such a way that it'll be distinctive from the English word(s).
Between me Bruv and self, we use 'wierd' (the mis-spelled version) as being distinct from 'weird' (the properly spelled version). Usually to describe either the type of person that mis-spells the word, or even better, to describe the sort of thing such a person would describe as 'wierd' while mis-spelling 'weird'. If anybody can still follow that. :)
Best -- Paul
Ps. @ Paul V. - You just have not witnessed an unnamed Finnish collector going on a drunken rampage after losing out on a SWORD auction!
ReplyDeleteand getting even further off-topic just to reassure Arto:
ReplyDeleteI was vastly amused to read in the Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch (an excellent account written by a Scotsman living in Amsterdam who didn't pull his punches) that I display a Dutch characteristic in that I won't let a lack of knowledge of a particular language stop me from trying to express myself in that same language. :D
Bye again -- Paul
Thank goodness Finland is far away then!
ReplyDelete(and that prolly explains my igorance too :)
Paul - both freak and freaky translate the same, friikki. Its connotations are not wholly derogative, as people may refer to themselves as 'freaks' (synonymous to 'geek').
ReplyDeleteBTW, The Fabulous Freak Brothers translates as Friikkilän veljekset, 'Friikkilä' being their home turf.
Does that translate as 'Freakland' or is that jumping to conclusions, Arto? And what would then be their family name in the Finnish version?
ReplyDeleteOh and can one "freak out" in Finnish?
Cheers -- Paul
wow, this thread has me all freaked out :-)
ReplyDelete@Paul & Woodsy I played sports when I was growing up: sandlot baseball, football (American style) and the odd tackle basketball. Those would later be replaced by tennis, then bowling. Now, a rousing round of napping suits me just fine. I'm a very so-so reluctant (or should I say fair weather) Green Bay Packer fan, but whenever someone asks me who my favorite sports team is (regardless of what sport THEY think they're talking about, my answer is always the same: The Milwaukee Braves (The Milwaukee Braves baseball team ceased to exist when they moved to Atlanta in 1966 to become the Atlanta Braves) :-) Yup, I'm a dork!
ReplyDelete@ Paul you got it right, Freakland it is indeed.
ReplyDeleteTo freak out is 'seota', as in 'Hei mä sekosin ihan totaalisesti'.
An interesting new term among teens is 'hajota', literally 'to disintegrate'.
Hei kohta mä hajoon!!!!
Cheers Arto
I was six when I stopped caring what people thought of me and the things I like or I would have lost out on many great things in my life like comics books, animation and action figures. Those who hate what I like or have a problem with it, those are the people I feel sorry for because they are missing out.
ReplyDeleteRight on Kal! Well said! Thank God for all those things. I suppose its human nature to label people. As adults we are being labelled all day long by shops, Political parties, magazines, newspapers, online facilities like You Tube and peers. I've recently been compared with someone on the Big Bang Theory, which is hard for me to comment on as I've never seen it! Maybe I should!
ReplyDelete