Boffin

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This article is about the British slang word for scientist. For other uses of the word, see boffin (disambiguation).

A boffin in action: Dr Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) from Dr. Cyclops (1940)

In the slang of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, boffins are scientists, engineers, and other people who are stereotypically seen as engaged in technical or scientific research. The word conjures up a stereotype of mature men in thick spectacles and white lab coats, obsessively working with complicated apparatus. Alongside eccentric genius, portrayals of boffins usually highlight a naive ineptitude in social interaction. A classic and substantial English portrayal of an eccentric and obsessed boffin can be seen in The Man in the White Suit (1951).

1 Origin of the word
2 Usage among children
3 Usage in modern popular culture
4 See also
5 Further reading
6 External links

[edit] Origin of the word

The word's origin is unknown. It appeared during World War II, where it was applied with some affection to the people who invented radar, early digital computers, the atomic bomb, and other technologies that gave the Allies an advantage over the Axis during the war. Word-substitution in conversation was a common practice at the time, to foil spies. After the war, the word boffin persisted but also came to have a slightly more pejorative meaning.

There are several theories as to the origin:

that the word comes from a name of a restaurant in East Anglia. From 1938 and during World War II the British scientists developing radar would often frequent an eaterey called 'Boffin's'.

that it is an alteration of puffin, a bird that is both serious and comical at the same time.

that it was a word for an older naval officer (i.e.: aged over age thirty-two, see C. Graves Life Line 1941) who apparently were termed 'Boffin'(s) in the Royal Navy.

that it was inspired by the Heath Robinsonish appearance of the Blackburn Baffin aircraft.

Eric Partridge points to Nicodemus Boffin, a fictional character who appears in Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, and who although being only a foreman clerk is described there as a "very odd looking old fellow."

One solution that combines all these theories would be as follows: the use of "Boffin" by Dickens found its way into naval slang. The Baffin plane, being a naval torpedo craft, perhaps took its variant name from the same naval tradition. The cafe on the coast at East Anglia took its name from the naval tradition. Then, to counteract spies the term "boffins" was taken from naval slang at the outbreak of war in 1939, and became widely applied as a convenient euphemism for research scientists.

The word has made a few other appearances in literature. There are a family of hobbits in the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien with the surname Boffin. In William Morris's novel News from Nowhere he has a man called Boffin meet the newly-arrived time traveller.

[edit] Usage among children

After the war, as anti-intellectualism came to the fore, the word came to have a more pejorative connotation. This was especially so among children, where it came to mean a nerdy young "teacher's pets" swot at school - lapping up their school work while also often pursuing their own research interests. Boffin was usually shortened to 'boff'. Similar nicknames beginning with 'b' were 'brains' and 'Bamber' (after the chairman of the University Challenge TV quiz game). Since around 1990 the term is still used among children, but is increasingly giving way to the more widespread U.S.-inspired label of "nerd".

[edit] Usage in modern popular culture

In modern British English, the word is mainly used in a semi-amusing way, especially by the British Red Top (tabloid) newspapers who frequently, almost universally, use the word when referring to any scientist; e.g.:

Boffins strain for answers - BOFFINS are launching a £660,000 study into constipation, it was announced today.
The Sun, 25 September 2005.

Today, particularly in other Commonwealth countries, the term 'boffin' is more of a compliment than a pejorative. The term is applied in schools to people who are generally very good in subjects like science, mathematics, and computer studies -- sometimes even to other subjects, like history.

The 1971 UK children's TV series Bright's Boffins featured the adventures of an eccentric scientist, Bertram Bright, and his team of equally-eccentric fellow inventors. [1] [2]. One can also see the type portrayed in 1970s TV series such as The Goodies and The Double Deckers (the character of 'Brain').

Longman, a British publisher of educational books, uses a character named "Professor Boffin" in many of its books. The character is a stereotypical absent-minded elder scientist.

The word has found little favour in North America, where the corresponding pejorative terms are geek and nerd, and no colloquial term for "scientist" exists.