Re: On nerds and dreamers

Herman Miller wrote:
> But I've heard the usage of "geek" referring to a carnival performer
> exactly once, in the lyrics of a song which a little Google searching
> reveals to be "The Carny" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. So I don't
> think it's probably that well known. I think Andreas Johansson's
> definitions are closer to my understanding of these words.
>  >>
I have a very distinct and vivid memory of a (very serious) movie in the
late-ish 40s, starring IIRC Ray Milland as an alcoholic heading toward
bottom (I think not "Lost Weekend" though memory is foggy). Anyhow, having
lost wife, job, everything, he ends up as a geek in a carnival, and yes, has
to bite the heads off chickens. The word was briefly popular in our local
slang.

A couple terms from college days at Harvard in the early-mid 50s:
"wonk" was used by prep-school types to refer to public HS guys and the
locals who commuted. The stereotype was that they were intense, competitive
science/pre-med majors, didn't dress well, and were often of non-Anglo
origin. (By contrast, the preppies called themselves "tweed" or "shoe").
Idiotically, hopelessly snobbish; and alumni reports over the years have
shown that many wonks have done extremely well for themselves. (The term
seems to have improved a bit--we now have "policy wonks" in Washington.)
"Nerd" didn't exist then AFAIK, but it could have applied to the same
people.

One of my irreverent friends wrote a little ditty--
"It's pleasant of a Sunday
To worship in a pew;
But I can't find no solace there
'Cuz Jesus wasn't shoe."

"Shoe" for that matter (it was elliptical for the white buck shoes that
fashionable folk wore in spring/summer) has also come back again (or never
went away), in refs. to NYC "white shoe" law firms and banks. ¡Ay de mí,
plus ça change.......!