![]() There remains a certain amount of disagreement on the meaning and politeness of otaku, which is hardly surprising when one considers that many of the people who self-define with this word are strongly interested in genres and highly particular fields of popular culture. ![]() Brady, Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield, IL.), 5 Sept. If any geek has a word for it, a word I can use in this column and elsewhere, I declared, the word would be with $25 to me. In this column May 25, 1936, I invited readers who might suggest a suitable word to convey the idea of that superior state or health to submit their ideas. A geek is any of the strange individuals, wild men or wild women who appear with the snakes in carnivals. ![]() Capable of tormenting and glowming if necessary.īy the middle of the 1930s, we see geek being used, in the same year, to refer both to a circus performer and to someone of intellectual bent. In the late 19th century geek was used to refer to “a dupe, a foolish person.” In the early 20th century it came to refer to “a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake.” This word, which has in recent decades shifted its meaning from “a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked” to “an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity” began its life with a different set of fairly objectionable meanings. When words change meaning they generally do not do so in a sudden fashion, but will instead take on new shades, which can overlap and occasionally conflict with earlier ones.Ī splendid example of this may be found in the history of one of the words that is nearly synonymous with otaku, which is the aforementioned geek. So is the use of otaku derogatory, or is it inoffensive? Both senses may exist simultaneously, depending on the speaker, the audience, and the intent in which it is used. Dana Lewis, The Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1992 "Otaku," as they are called, are obsessive fans who pour all their energy into obscure pursuits, whether collecting Barbie dolls or hacking computer networks. The series also became fodder for the "otaku" boom. We first begin to see evidence of otaku used in English in the early 1990s, although it often seems that the word is being used in a non-naturalized fashion, in which the writer indicates through the use of quotation marks, italics, or explicative asides that the word belongs to a different language. Fumi Matsumoto, The Nikkei Weekly (Tokyo, Japan), 2 Jul. Otaku men seem more down-to-earth and earnest." She said she is not necessarily into anime and games but doesn't agree with the common characterization of otaku as being "creepy" or "nerdy." They're all bluster and don't listen to others. She said she has been to mixers, but "'carnivore' type men are always talking about themselves. Makoto Fukuda, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo, Japan), 19 Sept. ![]() There are reporters, including myself, at each newspaper company who openly admit they are otaku, and present reports full of their otaku tastes in their papers. There is evidence, however, that the Japanese connotations of otaku are becoming less pejorative, at least based on English writing in Japanese publications in recent years.īut you also cannot say there is no media coverage favorable to otaku. In Japanese, otaku may function as a formal second person pronoun, and also has the meaning of “house.” When it added the meaning of “obsessive enthusiast” and began to be applied to the subcultures of anime, manga, and computer technology, the word had a strongly negative meaning in Japan. The plural form of otaku in English is generally the same as the singular, although otakus will sometimes be used. The word is used primarily as a noun (“an otaku”) in English, although it may also be found as an attributive noun (“an otaku man”). Otaku are often perceived as a group to be possessed of poor social skills, although, as with many other aspects of the word, this perception is shifting. It is similar in some fashion to earlier senses of geek and nerd (there is a perception that otaku are single-minded enough in their pursuits that they avoid leaving the house), although many people feel that it has a far more negative connotation. The word is borrowed directly from Japanese, and in English use tends to refer to a person who has hobby-related interests that might be regarded as obsessive, particularly in the fields of anime and manga. Some feel that 'otaku' carries the sense of “reclusive and potentially dangerous,” while others think it could mean “mostly harmless and quirky.” In truth, the word's meaning has shifted multiple times in recent memory. ![]()
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