# Trekker or Trekkie
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 18, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833 "2014-08-18T15:40:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/1 "2014-08-18T15:40:46Z")
TO all the Trek Dopers:
Do you tend to ID yourself as a Trekker or a Trekkie?
Gives reasons if you wish.
:dubious:
[Please avoid the stupid snark that often comes up in these types of threads. If you aren’t into one or more of the Treks, just avoid this thread, it’s really that simple.]
When I first got deep into Trek (watched since first run TOS, followed early syndication like a religion almost, went to early conventions), I was called a Trekkie. People like to attach labels, I didn’t mind.
With TNG and the Nitpickers Guild, I started calling myself a Trekker. Trekkie seemed TOO nerdy, was reserved in my mind for those guys that perform Klingon operas in their Mom’s basement.
Now, I don’t really care what others call my fandom. I tend to still refer to it as my being a Trekker, tho. The differences seem mostly semantic to me now.
Poll to follow…
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/2 "2014-08-18T15:56:54Z")
Trekkie, it’s what I learned first and I don’t particularly care about the impetus to exclusion and marginalization exemplified by those using the “Trekker” label.
Although Trekker _is_ better Afrikaans.
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### Author:  [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/3 "2014-08-18T16:14:31Z")
I have no Spock ears, never built a model of the NCC-1701, and have no idea what Nichelle Nichols favorite color is, but if I had to pick a label, I would call myself a Trekkie. Just not a very good one, obviously.
Trekker seems to me to be a latter-day deflection of the uber nerd tag, and I just never felt the need for the re-branding. Personal opinion, of course, and not a slight against any self-identified Trekkers in the house.
Either way, keep on Trekkin’. . . 🙂
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### Author:  [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/4 "2014-08-18T16:16:57Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Trekkie, it’s what I learned first and I don’t particularly care about the impetus to exclusion and marginalization exemplified by those using the “Trekker” label.
Nailed it. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
> [@](#):
>
> Although Trekker _is_ better Afrikaans.
Ha. So are those of us who watched TOS in the original… voor-trekkies?
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/5 "2014-08-18T16:33:13Z")
You’re all just dorks to me. 😉
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/6 "2014-08-18T16:35:13Z")
Anybody else prefer the term “Trekfan”? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/7 "2014-08-18T16:38:51Z")
Trekkie seems more fun to me. Trekkers will have serious canon arguments, Trekkies will make blue drinks and pretend they are Romulan Ale.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/8 "2014-08-18T16:53:39Z")
Someone who is a fanatical devotee of the show _Star Trek_, especially if they take it to the extreme of dressing up in costume, attending _Star Trek_ conventions, collecting show memorabilia, etc., is a trekkie.
A trekker is either someone who is on (or has been on) on a trek, or else a trekkie who is deluded enough to think that if they can avoid the label “trekkie”, and insist upon some other, very similar, label, somehow non-fans of the show will not think that they are a nerd. Actually, what this shows it that they are even more nerdy than the other trekkies are.
Although I liked the show in its first two incarnations (I lost interest somewhere in the middle of _Deep Space Nine_) I do not believe I was ever sufficiently devoted to it to be considered either a trekkie or a trekker (though I may be a nerd for other reasons).
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/9 "2014-08-18T17:00:32Z")
I’m a huge fan of all incarnations (except Voyager and JJ Abrams of course), but only passively. My only collectible is a Starfleet keychain. Oh, and a UFP passport that someone gave me.
I’ll answer to either term, but I don’t think I really earned it.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/10 "2014-08-18T17:25:46Z")
> [@njtt](#):
>
> A trekker is either someone who is on (or has been on) on a trek, or else a trekkie who is deluded enough to think that if they can avoid the label “trekkie”, and insist upon some other, very similar, label, somehow non-fans of the show will not think that they are a nerd. Actually, what this shows it that they are even more nerdy than the other trekkies are.
Said much better than I would have.
> [@njtt](#):
>
> Although I liked the show in its first two incarnations (I lost interest somewhere in the middle of _Deep Space Nine_) I do not believe I was ever sufficiently devoted to it to be considered either a trekkie or a trekker (though I may be a nerd for other reasons).
Said much better than I would have.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/11 "2014-08-18T17:36:27Z")
I am a “Star Trek fan”. I have watched many episodes of the various Star Trek series. I’ve seen all of the TNG- and Abrams- era movies at least once (I never really got into TOS, but I’ll give an episode a chance every now and then). I’ll happily chat about Star Trek with other fans. I’ll tune in to the occasional re-run.
I don’t consider myself to be a hardcore fan, though. I have never gone to a convention, I have never acquired any collectibles, and I don’t expect that I’ll ever dress up as a Star Trek character even on Halloween. So if someone asks me if I’m a Trekkie, I say I’m not, because I have the distinct impression that the term Trekkie connotes someone who is into conventions, collectibles, and costumes. I used to think that Trekker meant a non-hardcore Star Trek fan. However, upon seeing how weird and hostile some people get over that term, I have decided to avoid it.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/12 "2014-08-18T17:54:18Z")
Yeah, the hostility between the two terms is a definite enigma to me. Both are fans. One term user putting down the other term user is not logical.
Confession time: I am also a Whovian. Both old-hu and new-hu.
And I write very poorly done general science fiction. No pretension here!
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/13 "2014-08-18T18:06:50Z")
I would call myself a “Trekkie”, because it’s the term that is more likely to be understood outside of a very narrow demographic. If someone told me that they were a trekker, my first thought would be that they do long-distance hiking.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/14 "2014-08-18T18:07:27Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#):
>
> I am a “Star Trek fan”. I have watched many episodes of the various Star Trek series. I’ve seen all of the TNG- and Abrams- era movies at least once (I never really got into TOS, but I’ll give an episode a chance every now and then). I’ll happily chat about Star Trek with other fans. I’ll tune in to the occasional re-run.
>
> I don’t consider myself to be a hardcore fan, though. I have never gone to a convention, I have never acquired any collectibles, and I don’t expect that I’ll ever dress up as a Star Trek character even on Halloween. So if someone asks me if I’m a Trekkie, I say I’m not, because I have the distinct impression that the term Trekkie connotes someone who is into conventions, collectibles, and costumes. I used to think that Trekker meant a non-hardcore Star Trek fan. However, upon seeing how weird and hostile some people get over that term, I have decided to avoid it.
Nailed it. And I don’t have any animosity towards Trekkies. In fact I’m kinda jealous. I’d like to go to a convention some day and shake hands with Bill Shatner. But to me Trekkies are like those fans depicted in the infamous SNL “Get a life” sketch who are obsessed with finding out the combination to Kirk’s safe.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/15 "2014-08-18T18:26:49Z")
Both, and neither because that’s what I wanted to answer. But why no option for ‘Geeks’?
‘Trekker’ sounds pretentious.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/16 "2014-08-18T18:32:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> But why no option for ‘Geeks’?
it goes without saying
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### Author:  [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/17 "2014-08-18T18:42:20Z")
I’m not really that much of one anymore but I was a major one when I was a kid. I’m a Trekkie. I think the whole “Trekker” thing just reeks of unnecessary pretension.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/18 "2014-08-19T02:49:22Z")
Both, and neither.
It may surprise some of you who have read my posts in other _Star Trek_ threads, but I don’t consider myself any kind of hardcore _Trek_ fan. I like _TOS_, quite a bit of _TNG_, occasional episodes of other series, and several of the movies. _Voyager_, I found…regrettable, and I felt that _DS9_ was actually burdened, in many respects, by being part of _Trek_. In truth, the main thing that appeals to me is the marvelous scope for geeking out and retconning things.
If someone feels it qualifies me for a fandom label, it matters little to me which. It would be as well to call me a Whovian, or a Dresdenphile, or a Browncoat, or even a Brony. I am a geek, and I like what I like. Labels are irrelevant.
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### Author:  [@CodeB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CodeB)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2014, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/19 "2014-08-19T04:32:25Z")
I don’t really care but I like Trekkie much better
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekker-or-trekkie/695833/20 "2014-08-19T21:22:20Z")
Both and neither. I am a fan of a lot of stuff in the science fiction/fantasy genre. I have been to conventions, I have worn costumes, I have some collectibles and autographs\*. I was even in some Star Trek clubs at one time but then I got more interested in other stuff and didn’t focus on Star Trek anymore. So I may have been and could still be labeled a Trekkie but I just prefer “fan”.
\*I probably have an equal amount of collectibles from different shows/movies. I tend to buy these things because I like them, not because I think they will be valuable at some point.
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