By Paula LaRocque, KERA 90.1 Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-600373.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Some words and expressions seem new but actually have been around a while often with different meanings or applications. The expression "pushing the envelope" is such a term. It seems relatively recent coinage, but in fact it's been around for more than half a century since World War II.
In aviation and aeronautics, the technical term "flight envelope" referred to the limitations of an aircraft's performance. And the expressions "pushing the envelope" or "pushing the edges of the envelope" meant challenging those limits, trying to perform beyond limitation.
The term might have remained specialized technical jargon, but Tom Wolfe's 1979 book The Right Stuff picked up the phrase, and it moved into general use. By the late 1980s, we were applying the term "pushing the envelope" to any effort involving risk, innovation, and going beyond accepted boundaries.
Geek is another term that seems new but is in fact old - in this case, ancient. We've had geeks - or as it was sometimes spelled, gecks - for ages. Since the 1500s, in fact. For centuries, the word meant a loser, a simpleton, or a fool. Early in the 1900s, however, geek began to mean someone weird or freaky - a sideshow performer in the circus, for example.
That set the stage for what happened to the word geek in the student world of the 1970s. The geek became a sort of antithesis to the much-admired "party animal." A geek was one who studied too much - especially technical material. A geek was a nerd with good grades.
But then! Guess where the geeks went. To Silicon Valley, where they made computers. And software. And chips. And money. And where they gained respect. A grudging and humorous respect, maybe, but still. The word geek has come a long way since it meant loser. After all, head geek Bill Gates is one of the richest and most successful men in the world. And these days, computer repair people tool around town in Volkswagen bugs that proudly bear the legend: Geek Squad.
Which takes us to rocket scientist. Like "pushing the envelope," rocket scientist has been with us for half a century, but came to mean something more just a couple of decades ago. Until then, "rocket science" meant just that - the science of the rocket. And the rocket scientist designed, developed, and built rockets. But in the mid-1980s, rocket scientist acquired an additional meaning - a meaning captured in the expression "you don't have to be a rocket scientist to..." However we finish that statement, it means we don't have to be that smart. The expression accords rocket science the ultimate respect for brainpower.
But why just rocket scientists? Why not other scientists? Why not computer scientists?
Because rocket scientist conjures up an image from the 50s - a white-jacketed gent with a German accent, a bespectacled, bearded, brilliant uber professor. While a computer scientist is still...well, a geek.
I'm Paula LaRocque.
Paula LaRocque is the author of The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well.
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