It is only very recently that I contacted Peter, Editor of Steampunker.ru, for the first time, due to the release of the 2012 compilation of our brief interviews’ series ‘Steampunk jewelry tonight with…’. After publishing a kind review of it at Steampunker.ru and realizing that I had used the word ‘Steampunkers’, he made me a very interesting question: is it correct the use of the word steampunker to refer to people? So here we go, a Russian and a Spanish discussing philological issues related to the English language (this could easily become a joke, couldn’t it?).
1.- Steampunk
As we all know, the word steampunk was originated in the late 1980s as a tongue-in-cheek variant of cyberpunk. It seems to have been coined by science fiction author K. W. Jeter, who was looking for a general term for works by Tim Powers (The Anubis Gates, 1983); James Blaylock (Homunculus, 1986); and himself (Morlock Night, 1979, and Infernal Devices, 1987). This is, the term steampunk was originated as per linguistic analogy, replacing the root cyber by steam and keeping the sufix -punk. At present steampunk may be used both as noun (countable and uncountable; plural steampunks) and verb, with derivatives such as steampunkery, steampunkered, steampunkering, etc.
Some time ago I felt quite intrigued by the use of several words whithin the Steampunk scene to call themselves: steampunk, steamer, steampunker… so I began to look for information regarding the use of these terms. It seems that the use of these terms -and even its plural forms- has been a matter of debate for a long time. We can go back to 2007 (Brass Goggles forum topic: ‘Steampunk vs Steampunker.’) or just a couple of years ago (Brass Goggles forum topic: ‘Steampunk or Steampunker’) to find debates and even polls about this subject and, in particular, about the use of the term ‘steampunker’.
So, why have I been choosing to use the term ‘steampunker’ sometimes? I think that I have been using this term mainly with emphatic -and even affectionate- purpose. But wy do I like this term, when it is not a very popular choice? Probably due to a linguistic sensibility question, I guess. Let me talk a bit more about this.
2.- Punker
Of obscure origin, the term punk seem to be derived from Spanish ‘puta’, this is, ‘prostitute’; from the late 16th through the 18th century, punk was a common, coarse synonym for prostitute. The first known use of the phrase punk rock appeared in the Chicago Tribune on March 22, 1970, attributed to Ed Sanders, cofounder of New York’s anarcho-prankster band The Fugs. The noun punker comes from the merge of punk + rocker, meaning ‘a punk rock musician or a devotee of punk rock or punk styles’. I include below some citations regarding the term punker:
PUNKERS. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved March 16, 2013, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/PUNKERS
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
PUNKERS. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/PUNKERS (accessed: March 16, 2013).
Modern Language Association (MLA):
“PUNKERS.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 16 Mar. 2013. .
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE):
Dictionary.com, “PUNKERS,” in Dictionary.com Unabridged. Source location: Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/PUNKERS. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: March 16, 2013.
BibTeX Bibliography Style (BibTeX)
@article {Dictionary.com2013,
title = {Dictionary.com Unabridged},
month = {Mar},
day = {16},
year = {2013},
url = {http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/PUNKERS},}
.
3.- Steampunker
At this point I would like to clarify that I am a non-native English speaker and my English knowledge is far from being proficient. My mother tongue is Spanish and I speak Galician and English too; besides, I have studied German for several years and I understand Portuguese. As I said before, the like -or dislike- of the term steampunker may be due to a matter of linguistic and cultural sensibility (what a German would probably call ‘Sprachgefühl’). Probably the choice of words such as Clockworker(.de) or Steampunker(.ru) are not a coincidence, don’t you think? I would like to share with you some reflections regarding the use of the term steampunker.
.
‘I call myself a steampunker, for me the punk part is very important so I like to have that connotation involved, the other people in the world, the non-steampunks, I call conformist sheeple as there are no real individuals anymore what with everyone dressing the way the “gap” and other stores tells them and just doing what everyone else does all the time…… sorry for the rant, I tend to go off on the wrongs of modern society every once in a while’.
dman762000
~
‘Depends on your English accent. I am from a region where Germanic tones are audible. Such as the shorter ‘u’ and saying ‘Und’ (pronouncing the ‘d’) for ‘And’ etc. The backbone of the English language is Germanic through the Anglo Saxons and Danish Vikings. Trivial I am sure, but to defend the usage of Steampunker is more to do with one of being expression not contraversy!’
Andrew Craven
~
‘I think “steampunker” implies an action… and steampunk isn’t something I do, it’s what I am’.
AdAstra
~
‘I think it’s the ‘er’ on the end that makes it sound like an old, long forgotten trade.
“Here we see the now forgotten skill of ‘punking steam’. This important and potentially dangerous job was not for the faint hearted. Steam is left to build up in a boiler until it’s just under the ‘danger’ level and then let out in a serious of fast, precisely timed, short bursts. This process is known as ‘punking’. The man charged with this task was called the ‘Steampunker’.
Now..if you will follow me we can see the ancient art of buckling the swash….”.’Capt. Dirigible
.
I do like the ‘archaic’, ‘solid’ sound of Steampunker, but this may be totally different for you… besides, I am not precisely a philologist, so any scholar approach to this subjet will be more than welcome. What do you think? Steampunk or Steampunker, and why?
JF Alfaya
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Virginia says
¿y cual es el significado de Steampunk en español?
JF Alfaya says
Hola Virginia,
El término “Steampunk” nace a finales de los años 80 como juego de palabras, por analogía con “cyberpunk”, para hacer referencia a un género literario. Este género literario ha ido evolucionando hasta convertirse en corriente artística… y, según algunos, movimiento (contra)cultural.
Para profundizar en todo esto no tienes más que echar una ojeada a la Wikipedia, por ejemplo.
¡Muchas gracias por tu visita!
Sounds Of Steam says
Jose,
Thank you for sharing this with me (and Sounds of Steam) via Twitter in response to a note on FB which a friend posted and I shared. I also appreciate your regular ‘newsletter’ with the gathering of steampunk related links and articles. Here are some of my thoughts on the current topic…
I don’t recall anyone ever referring to people of cyberpunk as cyberpunkers. They were (are) cyberpunks. Once you add the “er” it is someone doing that thing. And I can’t think that anyone is actively “steampunking”.
“The steampunk was a steampunking steampunker”, is not correct in my opinion. A runner runs, a plumber plumbs, but a Trekkie (fan of Star Trek) does not trek. A Whovian (fan of Doctor Who) does not Who. It is a genre or an aesthetic, and adding “er” to it would be akin to calling someone who loves Christmas, a Christmaser. Or calling someone who is American and Americaner because they are doing American things, like the Superbowl.
Just my thought.
JF Alfaya says
Thank you so much for your insight, there is no doubt that this is an interesting topic (this is precisely why I wanted to write about it). Languages are alive and evolving as we speak, a never ending field of investigation.
As you know, Google is a name, but we can say ‘google it’ if we want to encourage someone to search for something in this search engine. Probably something like this is happening with the term steampunk, let me bring up this quote from Bruce Rosenbaum I shared this morning on our Tumblr account:
Complicated, isn’t it? 🙂
Sounds Of Steam says
Yes, what you say about languages is true. But I shall pout and stomp my foot if it becomes accepted to use “steampunker”! Well, at least until I come around and accept the inevitable. But I may still pout a bit more even then!