Anime UK News feature – Geeks, Otaku & Weeaboos: The language and range of fandom

wolf-scale

I’ve written a feature for Anime UK News, looking at fandom and the way the language of fandom is used. It covers the changing meanings of the words “geek”, “otaku” and “weeaboo”, and I also try to come up with a way of defining fandom, a scale illustrated above. As well as referencing anime including One Piece, Naruto, Sword Art Online and Otaku no Video, there are some other things referenced in this column too, namely Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish and John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme.