the.com/anorak
the jacket born for Arctic survival that became British slang for hopeless obsessives
means A heavy waterproof hooded jacket designed to keep out wind and rain, or — in British slang — a single-minded, socially awkward enthusiast who obsesses over a niche hobby.
from From the Greenlandic Inuit word 'annoraaq,' the hooded skin garment that made survival in the Arctic possible; English borrowed it in the early 20th century for the practical hooded coat. The slang sense is later and distinctly British: the popular story is that it mocked the unfashionable anorak-wearing devotees of trainspotting and similar hobbies — people who'd stand on cold platforms in exactly that sort of jacket — and that explanation does seem to be the real one, the coat lending its name to the obsessive who wore it.
- inuit roots
- Name comes from Greenland Inuit word annoraaq
- slang insult
- Brits call train-spotters and nerds anoraks
- original design
- Hooded, pullover, sealskin-coated against Arctic wind
- no zipper
- True anorak pulls overhead, parka opens fully
- band name
- Inspired indie acts and obscure music subcultures
duck and cover drills — us civil defense protocol during cold war 1950s-60s teaching schoolchildren to hide under desks during nuclear attack
fallout shelters — underground bunkers built across america and ussr in 1960s to survive nuclear war, like the bunker under grand central terminal in nyc