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

Posted by timothy on 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.

10 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. But on the other hand by Genoxide · · Score: 3, Funny

    "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!

  2. According to MY version of the OED... by tgv · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

    1. Re:According to MY version of the OED... by HamNRye · · Score: 2, Funny

      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, 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...

  3. I can see the Register guys scrambling by Frantactical+Fruke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Going

    s/boffins/funny men in white lab coats/

    all over their database...

  4. Re:Given the obvious root... by CptCook · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess it's understandable though that they don't want to be referred to as boffins. That surely just makes the general public think of stereo typical mad scientists!!

  5. In Other News... by CTD · · Score: 3, Funny

    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...

    --
    Grimwell - old, cranky, mean, obsessive
  6. Boffins vs. BOFHins by Ratfor77 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, but is BOFHin still acceptable?

  7. spare time by AstroMage · · Score: 2, Funny

    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..." :-)

  8. Re:Crackers by Simon+Field · · Score: 2, Funny


    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.

    --

    Free book: Science Toys You Can Make

  9. Re:Term of abuse or recognition of ability? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Your password is:

    F0rg3tful8offIn

    You're welcome!