Trekker POTUS?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Real fans never say "the" POTUS.

JL

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 6:45 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Trekker POTUS?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I read more than a decade ago that fans of the show preferred the term
> trekkers. (However, both terms are on the euphemism treadmill, I
> suspect, and alternate terms may be preferred in the future.)
>
> The (sometimes accurate) Wikipedia has an entry for Trekkie with a
> sub-section titled "Trekkie vs. Trekker". A distinction was reportedly
> being advanced by 1976:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Trekkie is "frequently depreciative"[40] and is thus "not an
> acceptable term to serious fans",[41] who prefer Trekker. The
> distinction existed as early as May 1970, when the editor of fanzine
> Deck 6 wrote:
>
>     ...when I start acting like a bubble-headed trekkie (rather than a
> sober, dignified—albeit enthusiastic—trekker).[2]:4[42]
>
> By 1976, media reports on Star Trek conventions acknowledged the two
> types of fans:[43]
>
>     One Trekkie came by and felt compelled to explain, while paying
> for his Mr. Spock computer image, that he was actually a Trekker (a
> rational fan). Whereas, he said, a Trekkie worships anything connected
> with Star Trek and would sell his or her mother for a pair of Spock
> ears.[25]
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 6:27 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Trekker POTUS?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I've heard both "trekkers" and "trekkies" in the US. (Not sure about
> Canada.
> > I don't think it's come up in conversation since I've moved here.)
> >
> > I've also heard both terms used disparagingly. A self-identified
> "trekker"
> > will say that "trekkies" are the insane fans, and vice versa. There
> doesn't
> > seem to be any agreement on which term is the positive and which is the
> > negative.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of
> > Victor Steinbok
> > Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 5:47 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: Trekker POTUS?
> >
> > The only "serious fans of the show" whom I know to have identified
> > themselves as "trekkers" are Australians. AFAIK US and Canada has
> > "trekkies", as previously remarked upon. Of course, someone who's been a
> > closeted, isolated fan might not know that. But that would have made him
> an
> > OJ trial juror, not POTUS.
> >
> >      VS-)
> >
> > On 8/24/2012 4:00 PM, Michael Everson wrote:
> >> What's wrong with being a serious fan of the show?
> >>
> >> Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
> >
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