(no subject)

[lethargic_man]

SW WINOLJ asks:

do you know what the French would be for 'geek'? [...] as one of my friends, who is a little bit like that in Paris, ie totally obsessed with computers and technology, said he couldn't think of an equivalent and didn't really know what it meant in English, mind you his English as he says is 'special' (in an accent that sounds like 'spatial', says it all really.)

So, can anyone here help SW out? <looks at livredor>

Comments

[liv]

I can't call to mind a suitable word. Céline of Naked Translations, my main source for this kind of information, gives génies de l’informatique ringards, which suggests she can't think of a good equivalent either.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for that and the URL, I hadn't thought of that one. One friend (English) checked it in the dictionary as debile. (don't know how to do accents in this comment, does anyone know how to do that. In fact I have just realised I really need to know this.) I didn't think that was a good translation. Then a French friend who generally knows his stuff said there is no real equivalent, which I now think is true. The original friend, A, who I was trying to explain the concept to could only come up with "quelqu'un obsede par l'informatique" but had never heard of the concept of a 'geek' even though he's very interested in computers, always online and using his webcam and so on though I'm not sure if he's really a geek. Also he speaks very little English. He likes the name Brian, so we invented the name Brian for his breed. I'm not sure what his wife made of the whole thing!

SW

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

When in doubt, try 'le geek' ...

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

I know French doesn't really like to respell, but I like the look of the word guique. Or maybe guic as the masculine, and guique as the feminine.

[snjstar.livejournal.com]

no idea, sorry

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, I just commented on what was written, I am not sure if I did that correctly as it only showed up as 3 comments still.

SW

don't know either

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know either. I don't think you simply find it in a dictionary. In German they call someone who in general obsessed by computer and and knows a lot about it "Computerfreak". German always write two words together. I don't know if this helps for French but "Freak" is also not German actually. I have no idea where it is from. When you take the word alone it can mean someone who obsessed of anything and does not specify with what.

S.O

Re: don't know either

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

It's an English word; been in the language for four centuries. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology suspects it as having been of dialect origin.