Information AboutDork |
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| slang | |
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Dork is a slang word for a quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. It also describes a person who is pushed around and bullied. The word often is confused with the words Nerd and Geek . The term "dorky" is a contraction for "door key" child. During the Great Depression, children with only one working parent were forced to come home from school alone. They, unlike other children had a door key to come home, instead of a doting parent. While one parent was working, they locked themselves inside, and were generally ostracized by their peers. The term oringinated in meaning to refer to poor, dirty, and scoially inept children. Over time, the word was shortened to "dorky" and was relegated to simply the socially inept definition. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines a dork as "a dull, slow-witted, or socially inept person." The Stereotypical ''dork image'' as seen in the Mass Media and Cartoon s equates to a young man wearing thick black Eyeglasses (preferably broken and taped up with Electrical or Duct Tape ), Pocket Protector s, high-water pants and dress shirts or clothes generally too formal for the circumstances. Sometimes the stereotype lacks Personal Hygiene skills, and he will typically appear either Very Skinny or Extremely Fat . Stereotypical dorks usually lack social graces and the ability to perform Social Interaction , except conversations about technical topics, and they tend to talk very formally, especially with attractive girls or young women. Otherwise, they often end up being completely and unable to talk at all. They also perform poorly in Sports , due to a lack of strength, stamina, adrenaline, muscle coordination and inclination to practice. Several characters in Americana typify this idea of a dork, such as Steve Urkel . Fake Etymology of the word suggests that this slang term originally came from a term that meant a whale's penis. The origin of this myth is unknown. IN CGI Among users of the CGI package called Poser , "Dork" has become the general colloquial name for the man character figure who came with Poser 3 and Poser 4. DORKS IN ART AND LITERATURE In literature, dorks are often used as main characters, supporting characters, minor characters, and often background characters. '' is also a dorky character, although his dorkiness is used more for viewers to laugh at then to sympathise. A minor character named Brainy in the cartoon Hey Arnold! often listened in on Helga Pataki as she talked to herself about her desperate crush on Arnold . This was a running gag for most of the show, and often this ended in Helga punching him in the face or otherwise physically hurting him. It is also common in cartoons and movies for dorks to be hit or beat up in the background, or otherwise saying something absurd and Napoleon Dynamite -like. When in a starring role, dorks often have beautiful love interests (such as Peter Parker 's Mary Jane Watson and Clark Kent 's Lois Lane ). Sometimes the girl likes the dork back, but usually she just wants to be friends. Still, the dork is given good chances with her, most of which he blows by either an inability to speak (such as the scene where Mary Jane comments on Parker's eyes in the Spider-Man Movie and he is unable to do anything but smile stupidly) or by an over-ability to speak, when they ramble on and on and bore the girl to death. SEE ALSO
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