On 030 Nov 20192/04/2019 17:23, Stephen D Green wrote:
> Surprising you don’t tend to hear politicians called geeks.
Very rare.
"I have always found Roosevelt an amusing fellow,
but I would not employ him,
except for reasons of personal friendship,
as a geek in a common carnival."
(Murray Kempton)
"Tory" was originally a term of abuse (Irish = "brigand").
Peter
> On Tuesday, 2 April 2019, Uche Ogbuji <> wrote:
>
> Well yes "geek" and "nerd" were originally uncomplimentary terms.
> Anyone who was actually called those words in their school
> playgrounds knows that. The former was a comparison to circus geeks,
> a common term for performers whose acts included seemingly gross or
> foolish stunts such as hammering nails into their nostrils or eating
> dangerous items.
>
> It's very, very common for once uncomplimentary terms to transform
> into neutral or positive descriptors. You could fill a book with
> examples, and many have done.
>
> --Uche
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 3:30 AM Dave Pawson <> wrote:
>
> Origin
>
> Late 19th century: from the related English dialect word geck
> ‘fool’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gek ‘mad, silly’.
>
> Live and learn.
>
>
> --
> Dave Pawson
> XSLT XSL-FO FAQ.
> Docbook FAQ.
>
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> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net <http://uche.ogbuji.net/>
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> Stephen D Green
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