[Ads-l] geek HDAS def 3

[Jonathan Lighter]

I don't think ablauts have much to do with it.

It's probably just an application of the weirdo/idiot sense under the
influence of "gook."

Maybe I should alert the media that "geek" in computer contexts is
therefore highly offensive.

Naah. Someone desperately in need of personal attention will do it.

JL

On Sun, Jan 24, 2016 at 11:21 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: geek HDAS def 3
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Odd that there's never been any size component in the meanings, thinking of
> the Watergate-era line, "A CREEP is a baby crope."
>
> Herb
>
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 5:46 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: geek HDAS def 3
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > "Geek" is a racial epithet?
> >
> >
> > > On Jan 23, 2016, at 10:11 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
> >
> > wr=
> > ote:
> > >=20
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > ------------------=
> > -----
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      geek HDAS def 3
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > -----
> > >=20
> > > HDAS I affords two exx. of this synonym for "gook," the earliest from
> > 1963=
> >
> > >=20
> > > Here's another from 1963, referring to World War II:
> > >=20
> > > 1963 Bernard Gordon _Cry of Battle_ (film):  "Just a pack of geeks."
> > "Ther=
> > e
> > > are no 'geeks' here. Just Filipinos. They want to be treated as equals
> > > because that's what they are."
> > >=20
> > > The film is based on a novel, _A Time of Fortune_, by Benjamin Appel
> > > (Morrow, 1963). No GB snippets confirm that  "geek" is therein, but one
> > > would expect so.
> > >=20
> > > Note that both "geek" and "gook" were established slang terms for odd
> or
> > > crazy people before they became racial epithets.
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > > JL
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > > --=20
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth.=
> > "
> > >=20
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-- 
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