the.com/gunner
Loves the subject so hard it short-circuits normal social caution.
means A person obsessed with a particular subject or goal, usually a med/law school hopeful, who pursues it with a single-minded intensity that overrides tact, chill, or self-awareness.
from Military slang first — a 'gunner' was the soldier who actually operated the gun, the one eager to get in the fight. The word jumped to competitive academic settings (originally military academies and then medical/law schools) as a jab at classmates who treated coursework like a battlefield to dominate — raising their hand too fast, angling for the kill on every question. The leap from 'guy with the artillery' to 'guy with his hand up' is informal slang evolution, not a documented single event, but the warlike edge survived the jump intact.
- origin
- military slang for artillery soldiers, aim obsessed
- law school use
- slang for compulsive hand-raisers who answer every question
- tell
- asks the professor follow-up questions after class ends
- perception vs reality
- meant as insult, often secretly envied for prepping harder