History: sci-fi freak

Source of version: 2 (current)

A derogatory term, which you'd hope that intelligent people would be polite enough to avoid using. :( '''Please explain what you're feeling to be unpolite and "derogatory" using this term :(''' freak n : a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed [[syn: {monster}, {monstrosity}, {lusus naturae}] That is one sense, certainly; but it also has meant "a person who rejects the conventions of society", and was used as a self-description by such people during the 1960s. Consider the analogous positive senses of "queer" or "geek". --((John Cowan)), geek, husband of self-described freak ---- That's most probably due to my poor English - beg your pardon whomever this may concern :(( In German, "Freak" is quite a common term not at all meant derogatory, about: a fan dedicated to a (maybe quite special, exotic(?) or narrow) field of interest. Think that the meaning - like very often - had shifted in foreign usage. (BTW, do you know that the German-coined "Handy" is the common term for "mobil phone/cell phone"?) -- .aulun. P.S. Now I found an entry in my Duden: freak 1) jmd., der sich nicht in das normale bürgerliche Leben einfügt (see John Cowan), 2) jmd., der sich in übertriebener Weise für etwas begeistert (somebody enthusiastic for something in an exaggerated way). ''Your "bestial" definition isn't even in my source!'' That's the original one, though it is now used almost exclusively in the phrase "freak of nature" ---- Why not "otaku"? That's becoming anglicized these days, means the same thing. ''Because it means'' anime freak ''rather than sci-fi.'' It means social outcast. ''otaku'' in Japan applies to more people than merely those who watch anime. But we were discussing the anglicized version - "That's becoming anglicized these days," - and it does not mean social outcast in English. (It means "obsessive fan" in both Japanese and English...) ''I have never heard it used in English to connote a fan of anything other than anime.'' (See http://www.coremagazine.com/columns/100.php3...) ''fektadni''