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You Mean "Boffins" Isn't A Term Of Respect? 39

Posted by timothy from the and-here-all-this-time-i-was-thinkin' dept.
Wolfcat writes "SCIENTISTS no longer want to be called boffins, saying the name conjures an image of weird men in lab coats. The president of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), Chris Fell, today said 'boffin' also suggested scientists were not part of the real world." Look soon for a redacted version of The Register.
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You Mean "Boffins" Isn't A Term Of Respect? More

You Mean "Boffins" Isn't A Term Of Respect?

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  • Crackers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20, 2003 @04:13AM (#5117540)
    I bet this'll be about as successful as the self-proclaimed "hackers" trying to rename the people that break into computers. Or those who insist that the word "piracy" can't possibly ever be a synonym for "copyright infringement".


    • While you're right about the chances of success, your comparisons might be a little off.

      The first one is about a group of people trying to rename another group. The second one is weak because the "pirates" wouldn't want to be called "copyright infringers" either. They would rather claim "fair use".

      To get the media to change the name for them, they need to invent a new meaning for the term, so the media will have to distinguish scientists from boffins. So if they secretly fund a group of Lilliputian terrorists, on the condition that they name themseves "boffins", then the media will be forced to make a distinction, to avoid being misunderstood.

      Perhaps we can start calling copyright infringers boffins, and help out the Australian scientists.

  • But on the other hand (Score:3, Funny)

    by Genoxide ( 633645 ) on Monday January 20, 2003 @04:51AM (#5117622)
    "SCIENTISTS no longer want to be called boffins, saying the name conjures an image of weird men in lab coats."

    Hmm... when I hear "Boffin" I think of Hobbits.. not scientests!
    • Boffin.....sounds like a pastry.
      Hmmmm....donuts.

    • whatin'? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I've never heard the term "boffin". What the hell are they so upset about? I suggest 99.9% of people have never heard of that term used to describe a scientist.

      Besides, "boffin" sounds like "boffing" as in "screwing". And what scientist doesn't need to be at least a little more associated with sex?

      Oh - and nobody cars what scientists want to be called. People usually don't get to choose what they (or their profession) is referred to as. I mean, if hookers wanted to be known as "physical pleasure service engineers" people would still call them hookers, whores, prostitutes, callgirls, ladies of the night and so on. So what.
      • It's true that scientests DO need to be more associated with sex than they have been of late.. But so do we! I mean, has it been any different for us geeks? We have, and for quite a long time I might add, been associated with unwashed, no style, longhaired, antisocial misfits, and it's not that long ago that has started to turn around.
        And that has only happened because computers have become more mainstream, and since the need for qualified computer personel has grown out of proportion of everyones expectations. This has meant that we now have a much wider array of people than before.

        Although I don't think science will ever become THAT mainstream, it's still not unthinkable that they will follow in the footsteps of the computer geeks, since people now see us as a lot less geeky than before, they might open their eyes to other types of people that have been socially blacklisted if you know what I mean... Then will follow historians, engineers and mathmaticians :)

        And as you say, people don't care what others want to be called. We are still, quite often, called nerds, but at least the word has taken on a different meaning than it's had before.. At least where I live (Denmark) now it's considered to be a mainly positive word.
        • It's true that scientests DO need to be more associated with sex than they have been of late.

          Perhaps, but given that boffing is a slang term for having sex, removing that close association seems counterproductive.
    • I hear the word 'boffin' and I think of puffins, those funky arctic birds. But, i'm in the US...what's a boffin anyway?

  • According to MY version of the OED... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tgv ( 254536 ) on Monday January 20, 2003 @05:49AM (#5117758) Journal
    A boffin is "a person engaged in scientific (esp. military) research".

    So, if you're a genuine pacifist scientist, you might oppose, but otherwise it's just another way of making sure that in 20 years time scientists will oppose to being described as "scientists", as it will have some negative connotations.

    Imagine, this is on "FASTS"'s top ten issues for 2003. I guess one of the other issues is: what to do when you have too much spare time.

    • spare time (Score:2, Funny)

      by AstroMage ( 566990 )
      Imagine, this is on "FASTS"'s top ten issues for 2003. I guess one of the other issues is: what to do when you have too much spare time.

      The answer, obvioiusly, is "go read Slashdot and post funny comments..." :-)

    • Gee, if an accurate term becomes an insult, what is an accurate view of your profession?? Next, whores will be complaining that the term "Whore" is negative, and makes it seem like they sleep with lots of guys. Hello Boffins! You really are funny little men in lab coats.

      I am a geek. I can write volumes about how to win at Civ. I program fractals in Perl. Calling me "Technically Adept" is just a polite way of saying "Programs fractals in Perl". Perhaps instead of Boffins we could call them "Logrolling patent whores". OOOH! I like the sound of that...

      Besides, this is from Australia. They haven't had a big scientific breakthrough since Yahoo Serious put the bubbles into beer.

      In related news [216.239.53.100], certain Quarks have objected to being labelled "Strange" by Austrailian scientists. "It's demeaning," said an unidentified quark, "How do you look at your kids and say, 'We're strange quarks honey.' Last thing I need is some funny guy in a lab coat imposing his own view of normalcy on my existence."

      ~Hammy
      I've got a brand new release of PGP
      You've got a brand new key...

  • Going

    s/boffins/funny men in white lab coats/

    all over their database...

  • Term of abuse or recognition of ability? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 20, 2003 @06:37AM (#5117861)
    When I was at school 'boffin' was used as aterm of abuse by the nasty bullies to describe the bright kids who actually had a brain in their heads.

    I was called a boffin. At the time it hurt, now I wouldn't really have a problem with it as I think of someone using the word as recognising that someone has a technical knowledge that should be admired (it's a favourite of the British tabloid press).

    No-one calls me a boffin anymore and I don't really feel like one. I can't even remember my Slashdot password!

  • Or they could apply the geek solution... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Doctor Hu ( 628508 ) on Monday January 20, 2003 @08:44AM (#5118178)
    And reclaim the term as one of respect.

    Doctor Hu (one of several 'old farts' and 'dinosaurs' who are helping to keep our employer's head above water.)

  • In Other News... (Score:3, Funny)

    by CTD ( 615278 ) on Monday January 20, 2003 @08:54AM (#5118221) Homepage
    The West Coast activist group, Californians Remove Air's Sensless Simplifications, has begun to lobby the Californian senate to pass a resolution banning the public use of the word 'air', supporting the use of 'atmosphere' as a better term.

    "We feel that people don't take the levity of the atmosphere serious enough." said Nancy Pender, President of CRASS, "They are always saying things like "The sky is falling." and yet they still pollute the atmosphere. We seek to force them to use a larger word, so they have to think harder before they pollute."

    *****

    This is stupid. 'Scientist' is now going to have to be filed next to 'Sanitation Engineer' as another politically correct job description? Phoey! I think it's a conspiracy. Those eggheads never stop to pull their lame brains out of books and computers! Someone must have formed a PAC around them while the geek squad was not looking. I suspect the Barvarians...
  • Yeah, but is BOFHin still acceptable?
  • I have never heard the term "boffin" before and I have hung out at physics departments for over 12 years where many people have ties to military research. But mostly in Southern California.

    So my question is, to those of you who have heard this term, or use it, where are you? Anyone here on the west cost? Do I just live a sheltered life? (Hey, I *like* shelter).

    Cheers,
    Greg
    • I've heard it used concerning British scientists during WWII -- the folks who invented radar, decoded the German's enigma machine, designed the Spitfire. It was a term of endearment, I think.
    • I believe the Boffins were characters in a Dickens novel; originally making a living by being trashpickers, they received a great deal of money in an inheritance. Although illiterate, they were very curious and interested in learning, and paid educated youngsters to read to them. (They were also very gentle people).
  • Scientists who worry about these things aren't part of the real world and deserve to be called boffins.

    A boffin is a dysfunctional scientist, and not just any scientist.

    -grin-

  • Thoughts on Boffins (Score:4, Informative)

    by Idarubicin ( 579475 ) on Tuesday January 21, 2003 @08:11AM (#5126014) Journal
    For those who don't know, boffin is a slang term for a scientist. Sometimes it also is applied more generally to people who are very bright, technically adept, and slightly odd. It might be used in a cotext similar to 'nerd' or 'geek', though it has a friendlier tone.

    The term is most popular in the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies (not Canada, however.) In the United States, the only place you're likely to hear it is on imported television, particularly the series Junkyard Wars [discovery.com] (a.k.a. Scrapheap Challenge in the U.K.; it runs on Wednesday nights on TLC.) On that note, host Cathy Rogers [discovery.com] can call me whatever she wants. Junkyward Wars also exposes the world to words like bodge (v., n., syn. kludge) and brill (adj. syn. Awesome! Derived from 'brilliant'). For further Britishisms, refer to the British-American Dictionary [peak.org].

    To close, then. I'm a boffin, and proud of it. If the Australians are too uptight to recognize a compliment when they hear one--well, they can sod off.

  • As someone else previously mentioned, "boffin" or "boffing" was the act of sexual intercourse in the slang. Probably because Im too young, I never heard of the other definitions for scientists, etc...

  • Frankly the only time i've heard the word Boffin was from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Ring. Boffin was a family name for the Hobbits of the Shire.

    could it be maybe that scientists just don't like to be called hobbits?

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