I’ll clarify that what I wrote (post #14) came from the 60’s, and thus far predated Punk music. It may be that the term evolved to have a not-very-perjorative meaning along the lines of a young rebel defying the status quo and wanting to make noise (or something like that) in its application to the music. In talking about the musical genre, I don’t see “punk” as perjorative.
I actually put “prostitute” in the list first, then edited out. Thinking of that meaning first requires a special, Rhymerian flavor of geekitude.
#2, with nuanced undertones of #1 and #4.
I have never heard it in a homophobic context.
White female, northeast, similar to your age
What always throws me is the older (I think) use of “punk” to mean vaguely sick or blue, as in “I’m feeling kinda punk today.”
And then the other meaning, what you call the thing you use to light fuses with. I try in vain to figure out how punk came to mean all three things, and can’t come up with anything.
I’ve known enough men who’ve done time in prison that the #3 definition would be the one I assumed if I heard two men arguing. However, I use the word myself in the #1 way, perhaps more along the lines of “idiotic asshole”.
white female, early 30s, Ohio
I choose 1, 2 and a bit of 4. I’d also have to add in #6, as I hear it as a pejorative for people who like Punk Rock. That said, I don’t actually hear it as an insult often except on TV.
White. Male. mid twenties.
Male mid-thirties. I associate the word as a derisive term to refer to anyone who glorifies in acting like an anti-social jackass. Similar to a douchebag, but more of a social outsider.
White male, 31, aging punk rocker, Ohio.
In the context of the argument in the OP, I think of the prison sense - weak and effeminate. Not necessarily gay, since that doesn’t really apply to prison “relationships.”
Am I the only one who has never heard the word “tyro?”
Nope, I’ve never heard it either.
I assume if not #5, then 2# (tyro notwithstanding)
I actually edited out the word “neophyte.”
I’d expect the speaker to be very much older and more conventional, established, and mainstream than the listener. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear “and get off my lawn!” following it. The accusee will probably 23 or under, and will respond with either eye-rolling, muttering, or some empty posturing and then wander away to practice looking cool.
Mid-30s, black woman, Pacific Northwest.
What is “tyro”?
I’ll go with #2, but it sounds a bit outdated to me. I’d be a bit surprised to actually hear someone say it.
Australian, white, female, 38,
Option 2, with extra sauce. I’m 46, white, male, originally from Southern California.
See, when I was growing up, “punk” meant something like “inexperienced,” but to leave it at that would be entirely wrong. If a guy is young but eager to learn, he’s not a punk. A punk is young AND annoying, either because he’s disrespectful or because he’s whiny, but in both cases because he doesn’t shut up and do as he’s told. On the other hand, a punk is not aggressive or rebellious, let alone a criminal – those guys are delinquents. A punk only talks that way, and only behind your back.
Because, as near as I can tell, this word shares an etymology with the other kind of punk, the kind you light fuses with. These were originally made of punkwood, which is wood from a rotting tree. And a rotting tree is soft and weak and unhealthy, like (a) a boy who doesn’t respect his elders, (b) a person who is feeling unwell, or possibly © or a man who lets his butt get used in prison. These are not decisive; it’s equally possible, AFAIK, that any or all of these ultimately derive from the meaning of “prostitute,” which is held (maybe) to come from Spanish.
#2
25yo, Indian, Male, VA
A tyro is a young and inexperienced person, particularly when he or she attempts to act as if he knows a lot more than he does. Think Robin, when he ignores Batman’s orders and gets captured by the Joker and put in the giant typewriter to be QWERTYed to death. Or James T. Kirk, in the last Trek movie.
In the early 60s, it meant a trouble making youth.
In the late 70s, music, ala Sid Vicious, Patti Smith, etc…
Also, in 60s on, meant weak, inefficient, like 'I’m feeling kind of punk, today." or “He punked out.” Meaning, he chickened out.
Late 80s, guy who takes it in the butt, literally.
White male, early 50s, handsome as all get out, raised in Oklahoma.
Ah.
Well then, #2.
A weak, immature, stupid male, with strong connotations of homosexuality. This is, obviously, when the term is used outside the context of punk rock, as an insult. At its most basic level, the term refers to a male who allows himself to be taken advantage of sexually by older and stronger men, in a prison. It is a very, very strong insult, a put-down of someone’s manhood (and implicit challenge to that man to fight back, which he is assumed not to be able to do.)
#2 comes closest of the choices you listed, but with connotations and overtones that others have mentioned. It would never occur to me to connect the word with homosexuality.
White, male, 41, central Illinois.
Only the last one?
ETA: Well, OK, he wasn’t all that young in the others.