![]() It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma but perhaps there is a key. I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. Sir Winston Churchill, Radio speech, 1939: Both enigma and puzzle may be applied to any matter difficult of answer or solution, enigma conveying an idea of greater dignity, puzzle applying to something more commonplace and mechanical there are many dark enigmas in human life and in the course of providence the location of a missing object is often a puzzle.Īnswer, axiom, explanation, proposition, solutionĬonundrum, paradox, problem, puzzle, riddle The riddle is an ambiguous or paradoxical statement with a hidden meaning to be guessed by the mental acuteness of the one to whom it is proposed the riddle is not so petty as the conundrum, and may require much acuteness for its answer a problem may require simply study and scholarship, as a problem in mathematics a puzzle may be in something other than verbal statement, as a dissected map or any perplexing mechanical contrivance. Cheers.Conundrum, a word of unknown origin, signifies some question or statement in which some hidden and fanciful resemblance is involved, the answer often depending upon a pun an enigma is a dark saying a paradox is a true statement that at first appears absurd or contradictory a problem is something thrown out for solution puzzle (from oppose) referred originally to the intricate arguments by which disputants opposed each other in the old philosophic schools. Even better, generalist is an anagram of the Kiwi beer, Steinlager, something only a true word nerd would ever realise. The fit felt right, the label suggesting neither ninny nor monomaniac, but more a dabbler, a non-specialist. What about fantasist? Brickhead? Conservative? Or maybe we need a new word: thick-meister? A droogle?"Īfter days of ruminating I proposed generalist. Peter extended his list of suspects: "Bogan has social class overtones. Question being: what was a nerd's antonym? Not the cousinly geek, that much was clear, but more a non-thinker. Let's face it – the bloke owns a lab coat. Professor Doherty, on the other hand, was alpha nerd. And Spencer, by my reckoning, in cahoots with can-do Kruszelnicki, was a geekish infiltrator that evening. It's trouble-shooter versus high-school tutor, Wi-Fi over sci-fi. Just as a mob like Nerd Squad murmurs a syndicate of essay coaches. #ENIGMA ANTONYM SOFTWARE#When I see a car advertising Geeks on Call, I presume there's a software savant inside. The leap from jerk to whizkid took place in the early '80s, where phone freaks (or phreaks) evolved into computing geeks, essentially nerds with practical knacks.īecause that's the key contrast in my books: pragmatism. Maybe the breed of twit to eat live frogs, since geek eventually applied to sideshow freaks. Ironically the English dialect of geck once meant fool. Over time this hairy humanoid equated to any unfashionable schlump, slowly mutating into a misfit possessing a peculiar genius. Among such animals as the natch and obsk, Gerald McGrew also hopes to care for an unkempt biped named a nerd. The author is deemed the word's coiner via his 1950 classic, If I Ran the Zoo. To grasp the science, let's rewind the clock. Geeks love gadgets, while nerds go ga-ga over grammar. Cheekily you might say that geeks are techies, while nerds are Trekkies. Both nerds and geeks are smart in a narrow kind of way, yet the tribes differ in subtle aspects. Suddenly I'd found a deeper semantic stumper to solve: what distinguishes nerd from geek?ĭistracted, I postponed Peter's antonym enigma to ponder a separate taxonomy. Teaming up with Dr Karl for regular shows and podcasts, Adam even declares his stripes, the duo calling themselves Sleek Geeks. I'd been roped into the same confession box, along with YouTuber Natalie Tran, the public shaming emceed by fellow nerd Adam Spencer.īut wait a minute – what was Spencer doing there? Surely that overt mathlete is more geek than nerd. He'd been invited to declare his nerdiness to an audience at the Sydney Writers' Festival, back in May. Peter's dilemma arose through an obvious cause. ![]()
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