# Why isn't "trekkie" hate speech? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 31, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891 "2004-05-31T05:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/21 "2004-05-31T13:08:16Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Is that where our star-crossed lovers, Data and C-P30, get it on? Or, better yet: Is that where our star-crossed lovers, Data and C-_3P_0, get it on? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/22 "2004-05-31T13:27:34Z")
I just have to say, this is one of the better parody threads that have evr existed. And it even touches on some _real_ concerns of Trek fans. I prefer the word Trekker. It’s the _official_ term used by convention sponsors. The word Trekkie was made up by outsiders to describe convention goers in the mid 70s. While either term is technically correct, I prefer the aesthetics of Trekker. While I may inform people of this pref, it really doesn’t bother me.\* Plus, I just love Starbuck, Scully, Fifi, Apollo, the Brigadeer, heck _everyone_ on Moonbase Alpha! 😕 What do you mean, those aren’t Star Trek? \*It’s just a TV show, for God’s sake! We did it on a lark for a few years in the 60s. You there! With the ears… Have you ever even kissed a girl? Get a life, people! ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/23 "2004-05-31T13:29:38Z")
Damn trekkie! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/24 "2004-05-31T13:35:49Z")
By the way, **Early Out** , that was excellent. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/25 "2004-05-31T13:55:50Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I prefer the word Trekker. It’s the official term used by convention sponsors. The word Trekkie was made up by outsiders to describe convention goers in the mid 70s. > > While either term is technically correct, I prefer the aesthetics of Trekker. While I may inform people of this pref, it really doesn’t bother me. ‘Trekker’ is an official designation, as recognised by the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s time to come out of the closet, I used to be a trekker. :gasps from audience: It was a phase, like puberty, but without the sex. In fact it was anti-puberty. But it’s over now. Those days are gone and I have buried all evidence of said crime in the nearby forest. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/26 "2004-05-31T14:06:51Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Star WARS is much cooler. A reasonable statement until The Adventures of Jar Jar was released in theatres worldwide… ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/27 "2004-05-31T16:02:43Z")
You beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/28 "2004-05-31T16:04:50Z")
Speaking _Ex Derriere_, it is **Trekkie**. This was passed on to me at the first big Star Trek convention, Summer 1976 in Chicago. There I was apprised of this fact in a personal discussion with both Harlan Ellison _and_ William Shatner. I also took the Ellison pledge to never, ever use the term _Sci-Fi_. Glad I could clear that up. QtM, fan of TOS _when it first came out_, and **student** of the writings of JRRT. **NOT** a Trekkie or Trekker. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/29 "2004-05-31T16:24:28Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > QtM, fan of TOS _when it first came out_, and **student** of the writings of JRRT. **NOT** a Trekkie or Trekker. > 😉 You would deny your inner geekness 3 times? Oh, the perfidity that is **Qadgop!** Besides, caring whether or not it is called Sci-Fi just _confirms_ your geekness! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/30 "2004-05-31T16:31:54Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Is that where our star-crossed lovers, Data and C-_3P_0, get it on? Hey, that works! “Threepio, Threepio, wherefore art thou, Threepio?” Clang-thump Clang-thump Clang-thump. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/31 "2004-05-31T16:34:11Z")
**QtM** is right, though. To all of us super geeks who are into Trek, Wars, Elves, Known Space, Lensmen, Doctors (fine chap, all of them), we refer to the genre of the franchise of Star Trek as Trek-Fi. Long live Dorothy! Fontana, that is… Abeedabeedabeedabeeda…Hey, Buck! ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/32 "2004-05-31T16:38:32Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > A reasonable statement until The Adventures of Jar Jar was released in theatres worldwide… No, that was just another nail in the coffin. Those goddamn Ewoks were the first major symptom of decline. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/33 "2004-05-31T17:09:53Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Besides, caring whether or not it is called Sci-Fi just _confirms_ your geekness! 😃 And disdain for the term Sci-Fi is spitting in the face of my revered childhood literary mentor Forrest J. Ackerman. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/34 "2004-05-31T17:14:28Z")
**Forry ROCKS!** ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/35 "2004-05-31T17:43:08Z")
_Next Generation_\* was the _ **best** _. Lightyears better than the original. Picard could kick Kirk’s ass from here to the Horsehead Nebula. And never take one bite of the scenery. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/36 "2004-05-31T17:54:47Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Picard could kick Kirk’s ass from here to the Horsehead Nebula. And never take one bite of the scenery. And _that_ is how Picard fails. Lack of scenery biting. MUST STOP REPLYING TO THIS THREAD!!! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/37 "2004-05-31T17:56:11Z")
Hey! What happened to the extended spaces in my capitalized reply? CAN’T…SOUND…SHATNERIAN…WITHOUT…them. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/38 "2004-05-31T18:50:25Z")
> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#): > > Hey! What happened to the extended spaces in my capitalized reply? CAN’T…SOUND…SHATNERIAN…WITHOUT…them. No one ever types Shatner right. It’s not just… the pauses… or the RANDOM emphasis… oncertainwords. You’ve got to KNOW… when to… runthewordstogether… or the whole… EFFECT… isruined! Unfortunetly, there’s no “Stagey, affected hand gesture” smiley to make the impersonation complete. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/39 "2004-05-31T19:18:34Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > _Next Generation_\* was the _ **best** _. Lightyears better than the original. Picard could kick Kirk’s ass from here to the Horsehead Nebula. And never take one bite of the scenery. I must be the only person in the world who liked Janeway best. (Yes, I even liked her voice. Okay, I’ll sit down now…) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891/40 "2004-05-31T19:46:50Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > Or, better yet: > > Is that where our star-crossed lovers, Data and C-_3P_0, get it on? Does Artoo know about this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-trekkie-hate-speech/247891.md?page=3)