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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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…”
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.