wonk n.1
1. a weak-looking, ungainly person [note Hong Kong wonk, a scruffy mongrel, lit. a ‘yellow dog’ (from Ning Po pron. of letters y.d.].
(con. 1914) George Brown’s Schooldays 169: ‘Just look at that rotten young cad over there,’ Hazel said, pointing to a meek-looking tously-haired boy of about fourteen [...] ‘Did you ever in your life see such a wonk?’. |
2. (Aus.) a white person, usu. as an insult.
Capricornia (1939) 228–9: He went to the Dagoes and Roughs of second-class and won their friendship by buying them liquor and telling him how he had been cast out by the Wonks of the saloon. | ||
Drum. |
3. (Aus.) an effeminate or homosexual male.
Aus. Lang. | ||
Big Huey 71: If he wasn’t going too well, the audience let him know about it. ‘Get off, ya wonk!’ they’d yell. |
4. (orig. US campus, also wonky) anyone who works harder than the rest of the students see fit; latterly used to describe an expert, e.g. policy wonk.
Harvard Crimson 18 Oct. 🌐 The articles vary from a serious appraisal of the Ivy League education to a less high-minded account of the social life of Harvard ‘wonkies’ and their Princeton and Yale counterparts, ‘ayools’ [misprint ‘tools’] and ‘weenies.’. | ||
CUSS 223: Wonk A person who studies a great deal. | et al.||
(con. 1962) Duke of Deception (1990) 209: Club members [...] gave a grade to the sophomore, from the highest (1: ‘ace’) to the lowest (7: [...] ‘lunchmeat,’ ‘banana,’ ‘wonk,’ ‘wombat,’ ‘turkey’). | ||
What’s The Good Word? 300: At Harvard, the excessively studious student is derided as a ‘wonk.’. | ||
Guardian G2 20 Aug. 13: Policy wonks beavered away at their submission to a panel. | ||
Experience 290: Some crossword wonk would get there before you. | ||
Sucked In 48: He was a policy wonk with fuck-all experience of ground-level politics. | ||
Guardian 1 July 🌐 Looking at the referendum campaigns and factoring in the deliberate and cynical demonisation of “experts”, you suddenly see what the wonks mean by “post-factual” politics. |