Herb <snip>

[Dave Wilton]

> I think "Herb" was an 'innocent' name previously without any
> association
> with geekery ... there was Herb Alpert [Tijuana Brass] for example ...
> possibly a "Herb" was a prosaic guy, "Joe Citizen", but not a
> pencil-neck
> or sucker or whatever. As for "Herbert", how long ago did the Herbert
> Tareyton cigarette label disappear? Surely it was still
> around in the 1960's?

There was a Star Trek:TOS (The Original Series) episode, "The Way To Eden"
(aired Feb 1969) where a group of bohemian "space hippies" used the name
"Herbert" as an epithet for (as defined by Spock) "a minor official
notorious for his rigid and limited patterns of thought."

And AFAIK, Herbert Tareyton cigarettes are still around. There are web sites
offering them for sale.