"Anorak" is a Britishslang term which refers to a person who has a very strong interest, perhaps obsessive, in niche subjects. This interest may be unacknowledged or not understood by the general public. The term is sometimes used synonymously with "geek" or "nerd", the Spanish term "friki", or the Japanese term "otaku", albeit referring to different niches.
Etymology
The first use of the phrase to describe an obsessive fan has also been credited to the radio presenterAndy Archer, who used the term in the early 1970s for fans of offshore radio, who would charter boats to come out to sea to visit the radio ships.
In 1983, the first edition of the Anoraks UK Weekly Report was published, featuring news of pirate radio broadcasts. In 1984 the Observer newspaper used the term as a metonym for the prototype group interested in detailed trivia, the trainspotters, as members of this group often wore unfashionable but warm parkas called "anoraks" when standing for hours on station platforms or along railway tracks, noting down details of passing trains.
Examples of use
Roy Cropper, a character from the popular British soap operaCoronation Street, is a stereotypical portrayal of an "anorak".
In 1992, BBC TV broadcast the Doctor Who documentary Resistance is Useless, in which British actorSteve Steen provided the voice of a faceless anorak-clad narrator known as The Anorak.
Indie pop band Another Sunny Day released a single called "Anorak City" in 1988 on Sarah Records. The "anoraks" described in the lyrics are independent pop fans.
Progressive rock bandMarillion titled their twelfth studio albumAnoraknophobia, released in 2001, referring to the long running in-joke that Marillion fans are sometimes called freaks or anoraks. The album cover, tour edition releases, and related press materials feature cartoon graphics of a boy wearing a rain parka in different colors, and holding a wire coat hanger by its hook. Inside the liner notes for the deluxe edition of the album, there is a photograph of each of the band members posed in a similar manner, and standing near a telephone box.
In the 2011 Ernest Cline novel Ready Player One, "Anorak" is the name of James Halliday's avatar.
Michaela Simon saw a close connection between geeks and high-functioning autism. Simon's article exhibits one of the rare uses of "anorak" as a synonym of nerd or spotter in the German language. Tony Attwood went as far as to write a book called Confessions of an Autism Anorak, stating his own obsession with the topic. He explains further connections between autism as such and the anorak status in general, based on the extreme male braintheory ofSimon Baron-Cohen.
