[Ads-l] geek HDAS def 3

[Herb Stahlke]

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
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org