# is DORK a bad word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534 "2001-02-23T00:29:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/21 "2001-02-23T16:03:47Z")
\*dork Pronunciation: (dôrk), [key] —n. Slang. 1. a stupid or ridiculous person; jerk; nerd. 2. Vulgar.penis. putz Pronunciation: (puts), [key] —n. Slang. 1. fool; jerk. 2. Vulgar. penis. dick Pronunciation: (dik), [key] —n. Slang. 1. a detective. 2. Vulgar.penis. 3. a male given name, form of Richard. - Hmmm… 2 out of three slang terms for penis also mean a jerk or a stupid person. Hey guys, should we feel offended by this? :D:D ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/22 "2001-02-23T17:44:31Z")
Actually, about 23.7% of the words in the English language could mean “penis,” given the right context. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/23 "2001-02-23T18:50:34Z")
FWIW, in my neck of the woods and in my childhood, “dork” was a synonym for “jerk.” My siblings and I often called each other dorks, and my parents never objected, except in the mildest “don’t call you sister names” sort of way. I didn’t know it could be a synonym for “dick” until today. Isn’t it sort of dated now, anyway? To me, it’s kind of an '80s sort of word. I don’t think I’ve even heard it lately. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/24 "2001-02-23T21:09:35Z")
My father told me once that a dork was a guy who… nevermind. Oh, all right, who went around sniffing girls’ bicycle seats. Sounds silly, but I read a similar definition in a Kurt Vonnegut novel once. Seems that same book claimed that jerk was also considered vulgar slang, meaning one who masturbated (as in “jerk off”). Oh well, meanings change and words either lose or gain power with time and usage. I remember reading, about 10 or 11 years ago, a preview in RollingStone magazine of the fall TV season in which the critic seemed offended that “sucks” and “scumbag” had found their way into primetime. A RollingStone critic! Whatever :rolleyes: Marge: Bart! Where did you learn that kind of language? Homer (on the phone): That suck was the suckiest suck that ever sucked a suck! Marge: Homer! Homer: I gotta go, my damn weiner kids are listening. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/25 "2001-02-23T22:03:21Z")
Another definition I remember - a dork is someone who likes to fart in the bathtub and snap at the bubbles. ---
**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/26 "2001-02-24T00:25:29Z")
gary larson once used the word _dork_ in a **far side** cartoon. his editor immediately told him to change the word, claiming dork meant penis. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/27 "2001-02-24T00:35:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gr8Kat \* > \*\* Seems that same book claimed that jerk was also considered vulgar slang, meaning one who masturbated (as in “jerk off”). > > \*\* I’ve heard something similar–a 1940’s radio program that tried to use the word “jerk” and it didn’t get past network censors. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/28 "2001-03-11T00:59:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fugazi \* > \*\*My first exposure to dork = penis was the scene in Heavy Metal where John Candy gets transported, naked, to that other world. He says “I’m not walking around here with my dork hanging out.” \*\* For those of you revolted by the image of a naked John Candy (nice guy, very funny, but he over-ate), you may rest easy. _Heavy Metal_ was a cartoon. Candy was merely the character’s voice. _Hustler_ once used the phrase “dishrag dork” to refer to a flaccid penis. My memory is _quite_ clear on this. ---
**Author:** ![Ly\_Thara\_Dala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@Ly\_Thara\_Dala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ly_Thara_Dala)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/29 "2001-03-11T05:29:28Z")
_LMAO_ Dork always equaled GEEK and idiot where I come from. ((Chicago!! And demmit! I miss the WIND! _L_)) Anyhoo, we,(my friends), would always use the word “dork” to describe those we regarded as idiots or morons. We’d all prolly have been shot by our parents for using “Dork” had they heard us!! It was kinda like saying the 4 letter word found in “Fire trUCK” _L_ I’m sure it just means moron, idiot, or dingbat! When my cats do something bad,(extremely stupid…like getting stuck in the ceiling, they get called “little dorks!” ((“OK, U little dork, U got up there…U can get down too.”)) HEH! NNOOOOOOOO DICKS!!! ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/30 "2001-03-11T05:32:13Z")
In **The Prehistory of the Far Side** , Larson mentions that he was once told by an editor to change the wording (from “dork” to “idiot”, IIRC) in a cartoon because “dork” means “penis”. He was surprised, and looked it up. “All those times we called each other that in grade school…” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534/31 "2001-03-11T09:22:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > [B > Hmmm… 2 out of three slang terms for penis also mean a jerk or a stupid person. Hey guys, should we feel offended by this? :D:D \*\* Only if you’re a peckerhead 😃 Yesterday I was buying a pair of glasses, so I was trying on frames. I rejected one of the frames, saying to the lady that it “looked dorky”. I wouldn’t have dreamed of saying that to a strange woman even as recently as 10 years ago. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dork-a-bad-word/55534.md?page=1)