# Trekkie vs. Trekker?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 20, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008 "2013-07-20T04:04:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/1 "2013-07-20T04:04:31Z")
So I’ve picked up that this is a bit of a thing among the Star Trek fandom: One of those words is very much not the preferred nomenclature, and the other one is. I’ve never understood why. So what’s the deal?
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### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/2 "2013-07-20T04:12:24Z")
Trekkie is the proper term for a Star Trek fan
Trekker sounds stupid and is not a real word
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/3 "2013-07-20T04:20:20Z")
Trekker is a fan of the shows and movies. A Trekkie is a fan who dresses up while going to conventions.
And they both want to be called Trekker. But there will be disagreement with this…
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### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/4 "2013-07-20T04:22:13Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> Trekker sounds stupid and is not a real word
You chose the noun form of trek as the one that’s not a real word?
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/5 "2013-07-20T04:25:09Z")
Trekkers take it way, way, way too seriously. Trekkies are casual fans.
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### Author:  [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/6 "2013-07-20T04:43:06Z")
I’m a Trekkie. Or a Treknik. Trekophile? “Trekker” sounds like one of those TNG fans…
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### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/7 "2013-07-20T05:21:01Z")
My question, really, is why “Trekkers”–that being the preferred nomenclature, so far as I can tell–get so irritated if anyone calls them “Trekkies”.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/8 "2013-07-20T05:26:47Z")
**Folly** is correct. **The Second Stone** has it backwards.
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### Author:  [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/9 "2013-07-20T05:36:38Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#):
>
> **Folly** is correct. **The Second Stone** has it backwards.
It’s a question of reference point.
“Trekkie” is the pop-culture-accepted term, it’s the one my mom would know, and it’s the one most of the big Trek fans I know (who are of the maybe-a-convention-every-few-years set) would use.
Using “Trekker” indicates you’re far enough down the wormhole that you care about the terminology.
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### Author:  [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/10 "2013-07-20T05:37:25Z")
Wikipedia entry on [**trekker vs. trekkie**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie#Trekkie_vs._Trekker).
> [@](#):
>
> _Trekkie_ is “frequently depreciative”,[[44]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie#cite_note-oedtrekker-44) thus, “not an acceptable term to serious fans”,[[45]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekkie#cite_note-byrd1978-45) who prefer _Trekker_. . . .
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### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/11 "2013-07-20T05:37:35Z")
For whatever reason many fans consider “Trekkie” as disparaging, while “Trekker” is considered more respectable. The funny thing is that Gene Roddenbery favored the term “Trekkie”, even correcting questioners that used “Trekker”. (At least that’s what the commentary track of the endlessly amusing documentary “Trekkies” claimed.)
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/12 "2013-07-20T05:41:09Z")
Trekkers are fans of the shows and movies because of the great overall story and social commentary embodied in the them of optimism and a better future. Trekkies need a life.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/13 "2013-07-20T05:42:04Z")
A Trekker will buy a set of Spock’s ear tips used in a specific episode.
A Trekkie will wear them.
To dinner.
At Applebees.
:dubious:
😉
Here, we’re all called Trek Dopers.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/14 "2013-07-20T08:39:12Z")
> [@PSXer](#):
>
> Trekkie is the proper term for a Star Trek fan
>
> Trekker sounds stupid and is not a real word
Seconded. Word for word. And among the fans I know, even former “Trekkers” consider the term ridiculous.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/15 "2013-07-20T08:49:12Z")
_Trekkie_ is a diminutive, it reduces fan activities into something negative and childish. Fans of _Star Trek_ do not want to be viewed so dismissively, and therefore prefer a word that represents their participation in fan activities, and of their imagining travelling along with their heroes through space. _Trekker_ represents that.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/16 "2013-07-20T10:17:38Z")
A “Trekkie” is a Star Trek fan who gets confused when he hears that there’s some sort of controversy over the two words (I honestly never heard about the distinction until recently, but am in no way surprised that fans have been arguing about it for 40 years).
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/17 "2013-07-20T10:41:53Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#):
>
> A Trekker will buy a set of Spock’s ear tips used in a specific episode.
>
> A Trekkie will wear them.
>
> To dinner.
>
> At Applebees.
>
> :dubious:
> 😉
>
> Here, we’re all called Trek Dopers.
What kind of freak eats at Applebees?:dubious:
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### Author:  [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/18 "2013-07-20T10:48:11Z")
> [@typoink](#):
>
> It’s a question of reference point.
>
> “Trekkie” is the pop-culture-accepted term, it’s the one my mom would know, and it’s the one most of the big Trek fans I know (who are of the maybe-a-convention-every-few-years set) would use.
>
> Using “Trekker” indicates you’re far enough down the wormhole that you care about the terminology.
It’s like black-on-black use of ‘ni%%er’.
Trekkie is what outsiders call them. To the group they are Trekkors.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/19 "2013-07-20T12:16:47Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> What kind of freak eats at Applebees?:dubious:
[Here ya go.](http://www.startrek.com/legacy_media/images/200506/tos-38-makora/320x240.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [July 20, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trekkie-vs-trekker/664008/20 "2013-07-20T13:59:40Z")
I was lurking in this thread a second ago, and I have a problem with it.
Isn’t the reason for two terms, a bit self-serving?
The debate is over the terms being interchangeable, thus I won’t be using them.
At once, it seeks to divide our group, and worse, it does so with condescension. I am sure that I am uniquely me, and if you want to move me further into the nomenclature of a nerd or geek, so be it. However, I don’t think it serves us well to essentially say “he is more of a geek than I am” or “he isn’t OUR type of geek”.
I am currently watching TNG episodes one after the other, in order, thanks to Netflix. I’m half way through season 5. (Indeed you can see the post I made on S5:E18) I am thoroughly enjoying it, and getting insight on many issues. I love phillosohy, Trek philosophy, especially when it is new ground for me, such that I won’t need to “reinvent the wheel” later.
For this, and other reasons, I don’t regret my choice to complete watching the entire run. Does that make me more of a fan than some others? Of course.
But that also gets back to my point. I think at the point we have to split hairs here, only proves we are more devoted to the show than [del] muggles [/del] [del] mundanes [/del] … People who still confuse Trek with Star Wars. (Not meant to slight Wars in the least.)
Do something for the exploration and the satisfaction of your curiosity. That should give more than enough resistance to counter any label put upon you, for any endeavor.
I could, and think I will, go Meta for a second.
Would Starfleet approve of the Trekkie / Trekker Rhetoric?
[Knowing full well, that just placed me firmly in one camp over the other.]
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