This week’s theme
Words for people

This week’s words
malcontent
fanboy
thaumaturge
temporizer
casuist

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(FAN-boi)

MEANING:

noun: A boy or man who is an extremely enthusiastic follower of someone or something.
verb intr.: To behave in an obsessive way about someone or something.

ETYMOLOGY:

From fan, short for fanatic, from Latin fanum (temple) + boy. Earliest documented use: 1919.

NOTES:

If you feel a fanboy is like a religious fanatic, you wouldn’t be far off, etymologically speaking. The word fan is an abbreviation of fanatic which originally described a religious maniac as if possessed by a deity, from Latin fanum (temple). Today’s fanboys, whether devoted to a sports team, comics superheroes, science fiction, and even politics, often show religious fervor.

USAGE:

“Ayn Rand fanboys are not exactly famous for their doctrinal consistency, and [Joshua] Schulte’s concerns about ‘Big Brother’ don’t appear to have occasioned much soul-searching in the years he spent building surveillance weapons for a spy agency.”
Patrick Radden Keefe; The Surreal Case of a CIA Hacker’s Revenge; The New Yorker; Jun 6, 2022.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: