Crank (person)

"Crank" (or kook, crackpot, or quack) is a pejorative term for a person who writes or speaks in an authoritative fashion about a particular subject, often in science, but is alleged to have false or even ludicrous beliefs. Crank can also be used to describe the opinions of these people (see American Heritage Dictionary 2000 - noun definition 3). Usage of the label is often subjective, with proponents of competing theories labeling their opponents cranks, but the term still connotes someone who is well out of mainstream opinion on a matter, as well as connoting a person of dubious mental stability.

Related terminology

"Kook" is a somewhat similar pejorative term that is usually used to describe a person whose areas of interest are perceived to be eccentric, fantastic, or insane. A person may be said to be a "kook" if they are seen to hold socially unacceptable beliefs, or perceptions that outrageously conflict with known scientific results, and appear to base their entire world views upon them. The term was coined in 1960 and originates from the word cuckoo, which is also the name of a bird.

Related Topics:
Pejorative - Eccentric - Insane - Belief - Scientific - 1960 - Cuckoo - Bird

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Predictably, "kooks" tend to draw criticism and generate controversy; it has been speculated that some kooks are motivated by a desire for such attention.

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Science fiction author and critic Bruce Sterling noted in his essay in CATSCAN 13 http://www.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/Catscan_columns/catscan.13:

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:There's supposed to be a lot of difference between the hurtful online statement "You're a moron," and the tastefully facetious statement "You're a moron :-)". I question whether this is really the case, emoticon or no. And even the emoticon doesn't help much in one's halting interaction with the occasional online stranger who is, in fact, gravely sociopathic. Online communication can wonderfully liberate the tender soul of some well-meaning personage who, for whatever reason, is physically uncharismatic. Unfortunately, online communication also fertilizes the eccentricities of hopeless cranks, who at last find themselves in firm possession of a wondrous soapbox that the Trilateral Commission and the Men In Black had previously denied them.

Related Topics:
Emoticon - Sociopath - Soapbox - Trilateral Commission - Men In Black

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