# Is the word "weird" negative? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523 "2013-02-16T18:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheCrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TheCrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCrow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/1 "2013-02-16T18:41:23Z")
Hello, This word “weird” does not seem to have negative meaning according to the dictionaries. But when people describe other people or talk about other people, I get the impression that it is used in a negative way. In my opinion, people regard someone (or something, but specifically someone) as strange when they don’t understand it. Therefore, other people’s inability to comprehend him does not make him negative. (does not mean he really is negative, or has negative personal traits) _“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”._ Am I right to think like that? Many thanks ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/2 "2013-02-16T20:18:06Z")
There are certainly some people who use “weird” as a compliment. Consider the slogan “Keep Austin weird” which some people in Austin, Texas treat as their motto: > **[Keep Austin Weird](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Austin_Weird)** > > Keep Austin Weird is the slogan adopted by the Austin Independent Business Alliance to promote small businesses in Austin, Texas. It is intended to promote local businesses and is inspired by comments made by Red Wassenich in 2000 while giving a pledge to an Austin radio station. He later began printing bumper stickers and operated the website keepaustinweird.com until his death in 2020 and published Keep Austin Weird: A Guide to the Odd Side of Town. > Despite a challenge from Wassenich, the slog... ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/3 "2013-02-16T20:27:31Z")
People are social animals and like to feel like they belong to the larger group. If someone is “weird” that is different and therefore outside of the group. As group animals, that makes us uncomfortable at a primal level. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/4 "2013-02-16T20:34:50Z")
From _Stand by Me:_ Gordie: “Am I weird?” Chris: “Definitely.” Gordie: “No man, seriously. Am I weird?” Chris [thinking]: “Yes, but so what? Everybody’s weird.” ---
**Author:** ![KermitTheFrig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/47e85d/32.png) [@KermitTheFrig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KermitTheFrig)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/5 "2013-02-16T22:55:03Z")
The word weird is not negative. Some people have negative feelings about things that might be referred to as weird. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/6 "2013-02-16T23:13:43Z")
Interesting term _weird_. The adjective derives from a noun dating way back to the 9th century and meaning (I quote from OED): > [@](#): > > The principle, power, or agency by which events are predetermined; fate, destiny. Earliest cite for the adjective is circa 1400 and here too the sense was: > [@](#): > > Having the power to control the fate or destiny of human beings, etc.; later, claiming the supernatural power of dealing with fate or destiny. This is how Shakespeare uses it in _Macbeth_, the Weird Sisters. For the modern senses of _Of strange or unusual appearance, odd-looking._ and \*Out of the ordinary course, strange, unusual; hence, odd, fantastic. \* we have to wait until the early 19th century but there’s no hint that it’s in any sense derogatory, although I’m sure that some will attach that meaning to it, the sort of people for whom any deviance from the norm is regarded with suspicion and distaste. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/7 "2013-02-16T23:17:35Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There are certainly some people who use “weird” as a compliment. Consider the slogan “Keep Austin weird” which some people in Austin, Texas treat as their motto: > > [Keep Austin Weird - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Austin_Weird) It also seems to have helped Alfred “Weird Al” Yankovic. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/8 "2013-02-17T05:01:46Z")
Not to mention all those “weird tip” ads that infest the web. Context is all. “Weird,” like most descriptive terms, can be good, bad or indifferent, according to the context in which it is being used. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/9 "2013-02-17T05:06:14Z")
Spend some time watching Portlandia. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bob\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_X)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/10 "2013-02-17T05:22:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There are certainly some people who use “weird” as a compliment. Consider the slogan “Keep Austin weird” which some people in Austin, Texas treat as their motto: > > [Keep Austin Weird - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Austin_Weird) “Keep Santa Cruz Weird” is also a popular bumper sticker in California. ---
**Author:** ![jack\_tardiff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jack\_tardiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_tardiff)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/11 "2013-02-17T06:59:07Z")
Good question. Now that you mention it, _Weird Science_, “Weird Al,” and “Keep [whatever city] Weird” … that used to be kind of a little trope going on. I hear it all the time as a semi-ironic under-the-breath “not”-insult. Plausible deniability? Passive aggression? Many of the new hires I see are hipster-ish young fresh-off-the-campus types – maybe I picked it up from them. Like a fungus. I like it, though, so I use it. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/12 "2013-02-17T07:33:16Z")
Has it become a lot more neutral since queer was co-opted by the homosexuals? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/13 "2013-02-17T08:11:12Z")
Is the word “weird” negative? OP’s question is positively weird. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/14 "2013-02-17T15:34:00Z")
I think _Hamlet_ is weird. I think the spelling of “weird” is weird. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/15 "2013-02-17T22:03:23Z")
> [@TheCrow](#): > > This word “weird” does not seem to have negative meaning according to the dictionaries. But when people describe other people or talk about other people, I get the impression that it is used in a negative way. > > In my opinion, people regard someone (or something, but specifically someone) as strange when they don’t understand it. Therefore, other people’s inability to comprehend him does not make him negative. (does not mean he really is negative, or has negative personal traits) Typically, yes. Usually “you’re weird” is thrown out as a negative by someone that’s having trouble keeping up with the conversation or has no knowledge of the subject being discussed. It’s not like people are going to say “I’m slow,” so they turn it around. ---
**Author:** ![applebetty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@applebetty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/applebetty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-word-weird-negative/650523/16 "2013-02-17T23:53:15Z")
I like weird. It’s what makes someone interesting, their quirks and habits add up to personality. I accept I’m a little (lot!) weird because I can’t stand most of the conformist herd opinions that seem to make most people feel safe and happy. Self-encased small minds fear differences because it makes them look too hard at themselves and find they are lacking in courage and heart. Embrace and seek out the weird!