[etni] Re: "anorak" - new slang...expression?

Anorak (slang)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anorak_(slang)

In British slang, anorak has come to mean "geek" or "nerd", for example from the use of anoraks as the invariable wear of train spotters, and then by extension to refer to anyone with an unfathomable interest in detailed information regarded as boring by the rest of the population - aided by the intuition that only a geek would wear something so terminally unfashionable.
The word can be qualified by the area in which the person takes an (implied) excessive interest; for example in education, a "timetabling anorak" would be someone who found the process of timetabling classes fascinating. Also, recently this word has come to mean a blend of the nerd and geek cultures.

It was reportedly derived from the weatherproof upper clothing worn by enthusiasts of offshore radio who would, despite their lack of familiarity with maritime life, sometimes travel from British ports in small boats to visit the ships from which their outcast heroes broadcast during the 1967-76 period. The collective impression of their brightly coloured garments in the coastal murk of the North Sea was presumably memorable to the crews of those "pirate ships" who had restricted contact with the mainland due to the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act and the visits might have had an important morale-boosting role, although the wearers of the garments might often have regretted the discomfort of those sea-tossed journeys. In rough weather the anoraks were far more visible than their distressed wearers hence they were identified by the style of their outer garments. The term was reportedly coined by Andy Archer, a disc jockey of that period. The usage became generalised to mean an obsessive enthusiast of any outdoor activity and later to an enthusiast of other unfashionable activities.


Juid wrote:
I just came across a slang expression in a magazine that I'd never heard before. Calling somebody "an anorak" (which is a type of raincoat with a zip and hood). I presume it's a British one and believe it refers to a sad person who spends
lots of odd hours alone outside (usually in the rain and cold) birdwatching, or trainspotting etc. Does anyone know when and where this expression sprang from? I know it wasn't around when I left England some 20 years ago. 

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