# What do you understand the pejorative "punk" to mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675 "2010-01-27T19:26:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/61 "2010-02-01T00:59:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > You just called me older, punk. :mad:😃 Knowing that you’re black, you’re forcing me to break my rule on how to understand that word, gramps.😛 How about we substitute the word “mature.”😉 ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/62 "2010-02-01T01:18:54Z")
I’m 40, white, and originally from the NYC area. Growing up, I usually equated it with the “young whipper-snapper with no respect for his elders”. Now, being in the Navy, and living all over the place, and interacting with said whipper-snappers, there is a definately different definition. Nowadays, it has changed to mean that not only are you arrogant, but you also do not have the spine to stand up for yourself. In the case of the OP, if person #2 was a punk, there would be no fight. But in order to show you are not a punk, you would fight. If you don’t fight, you got punked. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/63 "2010-02-01T01:57:31Z")
When I was younger ‘punk’ meant a young thug, but now the first thing I think of is ‘prison bitch’. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/64 "2010-02-01T02:07:10Z")
No idea, really. Something to do with mow-hawks? (male, 16, white, Midwestern) However, having read threads here, I have inferred that it is something really bad. Like, one of the worst insults you could throw at someone else. Something not to be used lightly. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/65 "2010-02-01T04:06:50Z")
I immediately imagine the guy flailing his cane with britches past his belly button. Not the “punk” obviously. That could be anybody. It’s not really much of an insult to me. ---
**Author:** ![Modern-caveman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@Modern-caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Modern-caveman)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/66 "2010-02-01T16:12:52Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Same here, just a general low-life. > > White male, almost 50, all my life in California. Growing up as an adolescent my Mother remarried. Her new husband was fine until they got married. Then his colors as a selfish maniacal a\*\*hole flourished. He moved his three kids in with me and my brother. A Brady Bunch thing. He ran it as he saw fit. I played guitar in a band - he took that from me and the records that I bought and locked it up saying it was the work of the devil. I paid for that guitar and the records myself with the band and working part time at a restaurant my Dad’s wife managed. He made me quit that job too and had me mow grass at his buddy’s place for less than adequate compensation. He made me so nervous at the dinner table I once spilled my milk. It flowed down past his plate and onto his lap. He didn’t even try to stop it. When I went to stand the glass back up he slammed me against the wall and drew back his fist. My Mother was shocked but did nothing. He had to have me sit next to him always. I could never have any alone time with my Mother. He would always intervene. Not only that but he would talk about my Mother’s "a\*s while I was in the room. When my Mother did stand up for me he would say, “Ain’t no PUNK kid gonna’ change my opinion”. It was that and, It’s always “hooray for me and piss on you”. That was the only time in my life anyone called me a “punk” and never again. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/67 "2010-02-03T06:34:31Z")
I’ve been thinking of a good succinct way to sum up my definition of a punk, the closest I can think of is “the skater boy equivalent of a douche or poser.” Essentially someone who tries to be “edgy” and “cool” in a way that would probably be most at home in the '90s, but fails at it in such a grand way that they come off as laughable. Despite my definition, they don’t actually have to be a skater boy, per se, but that sort of brand of “alternative” that encompasses Xtreme Sports, odd piercings, and ill advised hair colors. Though on a casual day I may apply it to someone who just has a bit of an attitude but is otherwise normal (the guy who thinks he owns the sidewalk and purposely bumps into you to prove his dominance, but lacks any other stereotypable features, for instance). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/68 "2010-02-03T16:18:19Z")
1. A young, dumb guy who’s borderline criminal. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675/69 "2010-02-03T19:41:08Z")
> [@GameHat](#): > > Stimpy, you idiot! You left out my understanding of “punk”! > > Punk, to me, means the rejection of societal norms and beliefs in a destructive way. But the movement isn’t destructive, per se. It just wants to establish new and better norms. Albeit in the destruction of the old norms. To me that’s “punk”. Your understanding of _punk_ does not seem relevant. The thread question is not “Is the word “punk” an insult?” It is “If you hear the word “punk” used in a clearly pejorative tone, but lack sufficient context to guess its precise meaning, what is the first interpretation that pops into your head?” I know a pair of women who use _bitch_ as a term of endearment between themselves; they say it’s an acronym for Being In Total Control (of) Herself. That does not mean that they others mean it the way they do, even when addressing them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-understand-the-pejorative-punk-to-mean/526675.md?page=3)