spaz(z), n.

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:35:07 -0700, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>A "spazz" was, as you say, primarily clumsy and uncoordinated, but could
>be inordinately stupid as well. The word had nothing to do with being
>cool or uncool, since a "spazz" was such an oaf that coolness was not
>even a consideration.  "Spastic," n. & adj., was also in occasional use.
>
>My impression is that "uncool" is too precise a refinement. Dad in the
>Baker cite is a spazz, not because he uses an "archaic" word (which by
>the way has never  been archaic or needed a "revival" over the pas 60
>years), but because he's a parent using a "teen" word.

OK, but that's still not a context where I would think the 'uncoordinated'
(or even 'stupid') sense of "spaz(z)" would apply.  Isn't it a textbook
example of uncoolness?  A parent using a teen word is unhip/uncool,
precisely because of the earnest yet off-the-mark attempt to be hip/cool.

>And I think Paulene Kael's information represents the outer limit of
>the word's reach, rather than a core definition.

This matches my experience of the '80s revival of "spaz(z)" (perhaps
repopularized by the 1979 movie _Meatballs_, which featured a character
named Spaz).  But when the term has come up on the alt.usage.english
newsgroup, there have been some who have attested to the 'uncool' sense,
e.g.:

-----
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/msg/7522a9ae151243f8
Date: 1999/01/19
Subject: Re: What does 'spaz' mean?

It is also a noun to label said person, or a person who is not "cool"
Synonyms: Spaz, Dork, Nerd, Geek
-----


--Ben Zimmer