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What does the word punk mean ? (retrofed.com)
submitted 1 month ago by LoveEspresso@retrofed.com to c/asksolarpunk@slrpnk.net
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[-] naught101@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The original meaning is "bad, rotten" in relation to wood. From there it was applied to people as a derogatory term.

It was then presumably intentionally claimed as a badge of pride for the punk music scene, where it effectively means "anti-orthodox, anti-authority, rebellious, outsider"

It gets used in pretty diverse circumstances, many of which don't share much meaning with the original music scene meaning. Like steampunk is basically a purely aesthetic term, with none of the political connotations.

[-] MrSelfDestruct@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago

Williams Burroughs described punk as someone in prison that takes it in the butt.

[-] actionjbone@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 month ago

Yes, well, he said a lot of things while on heroin.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Writers say all kinds of wack shit. Some of it sticks, some of it doesn't. This one's not really relevant to the OP's question.

[-] MrSelfDestruct@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

It was considered one of the first uses of the word punk, before the music term.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Usage determines meaning, not age.. if no one else picked up that meaning and ran with it, then it's not really relevant to common usage.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It's obviously relevant to a conversation about the meaning and history of the word, even if it's not a common usage today. If William S. Burroughs said it, it's worth taking a moment and making sure it actually fucking sunk in, and not just going eww that's not the way mom makes it. When people use "punk" pejoratively, and they commonly do, they are certainly calling on this legacy. I hadn't made the connection to homophobia before.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

I have never heard of people using the term "punk" with any connotation of "homosexual". It's interesting to learn that Burroughs (and perhaps a few others?) once used it that way, but I'm skeptical that that has meaningfully influenced broader common usage. "They are certainly calling on this legacy" seems like a claim that needs evidence?

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 2 points 1 month ago

That's a nice link, thanks !! It explains the meaning of punk nicely.

So, how does the word punk combine with solar to express a meaning ?

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

The Wikipedia page expresses it fairly clearly in the intro paragraph:

Solarpunk is a literary, artistic, and social movement, closely related to the hopepunk movement, that envisions and works toward actualizing a sustainable future interconnected with nature and community. The "solar" represents solar energy as a renewable energy source and an optimistic vision of the future that rejects climate doomerism, while the "punk" refers to do it yourself and the countercultural, post-capitalist, and sometimes decolonial aspects of creating such a future.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 2 points 1 month ago

So solar punksters are basically worshippers of Surya Deva ??

https://hindumirror.com/who-is-surya-dev/

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

... No?

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I'm also a punk, a spiritual punk, as l am a worshipper of Ma Kamakhya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakhya

Her annual festival always coincides with the summer solstice https://thesanatantales.com/ambubachi-mela-2026/

Red pieces of wet cloth is distributed as prasad among the devotees during ambuvachi. It symbolises used sanitary pads.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago

If you can imagine the future as a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever -- then punk is a second boot up that first boot guy's ass.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

Don't get this.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 5 points 1 month ago

Oh wait, punks are supposed to kick the ass (or the balls) of the ones in power ? Like the Cockroach Party ?

https://feddit.online/c/news_from_the_subcontinent

[-] figjam@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

Punks know that they can't do it alone by themselves. Even if they did thats just exchanging one strongman for another. Only through cooperation with our community and resistance to the power structure can good lasting change happen. Punk has a different definition for each person who takes the label. Its more of an outlook than a structure.

[-] foxymochakitten@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

yes!! Reading about the Cockroach Party, I would say that they align with the values of punk subcultures. Activism, saying "fuck you" to politicians who don't stand for the people, rejecting mainstream culture by dressing in ways that aren't considered "normal" (such as cockroach costumes), speaking loud and proud about what everyday people need and want, standing up for women's rights... Sounds punk to me

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago

I tried.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 month ago

Not sure I understand the meaning of your question. Maybe the Wikipedia can help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 4 points 1 month ago

I understand that the word punk has to do with some kind of revolution or non conformism. The hippies could be categorised as punks.

It does look a la mode in the Western World, but do you really need to label yourself something in order to carve out a self-identity ?

Sometimes this is better than jabber !!

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 month ago

Uh, categorizing self-absorbed hippies as punks is about as wrong as it gets 😅

It's not about the lable, its just a shortcut to explain a common cause and idea how to interact with one another.

[-] MrSelfDestruct@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago

Punks hated hippies. To punks, hippies were privileged kids that could always go home and get bailed out. Punks were treated like scum and fought for what they believed in.

[-] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Not uniformly though, my partner's mother was a hippie who got into the commune life after she aged out of foster care.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 2 points 1 month ago

That's new, because where l am, l understand neither punks nor hippies. I simply know that for hippies, sex and drugs were the order of life.

[-] MrSelfDestruct@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

Punk life was more self destructive and art aligned. Politics, drugs, sex, art, poverty, and alienation made punk, at least in the early stages.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 2 points 1 month ago

These are features of the Western World, which l would never understand.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

If l say, "Poverty is the byproduct of capitalism," does that make any sense to you ??

[-] JustJack23@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In solarpunk just like steampunk and cyberpunk I don't think the punk park hold much meaning.

It is similar to porn in unixporn or foodporn. It just signals that whatever you are talking about is alao an aesthetic.

Categorizing the hippies as a kind of punk ruined my day tho.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

I think you are right about steampunk, but cyberpunk does have an element of an anti-authoritarian counter culture (hackers going up against tech oligarchs). And solar punk evolved from there and is more explicitly political, although more utopian and I agree there is a bit of distance in the meaning.

[-] JustJack23@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah I was thinking about that, but it is not consistent across all punks so it can't be the meaning of punk right?

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago

Just like with the original punk there are some posers 🤷

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

That's.. Not how words work. Like, a silverfish is not a type of fish, bench dog is not a type of dog, etc.

[-] JustJack23@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Silverfish is called so because it looks like a silvery fish. Bench dog in woodworking is something that holds things.

But what is my point they are not fish and a dog(animal) so the words don't always hold exact meaning.

[-] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I have no idea how to make this comment of yours coherent with the one of yours 2 above it..

[-] nocturne@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

Hippies look friendly on the outside, but are rotten and nasty at their core.

Punks look rotten and nasty on the outside, and are friendly at their core.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

Are you talking about hippies or capitalists ??

I've never seen any hippi though.

[-] nocturne@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 month ago

I never said the word capitalist.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

Replace the hippies with capitalists in your sentence and then read again.

Does that make sense ??

[-] nocturne@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

I guess it makes sense. But I am not talking about capitalists.

I am talking about hippies, and punks. I do not know any capitalists, but I was raised by two hippies, with lots of hippie friends. And I am a punk with many punk friends.

[-] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

It's a stick that keeps an ember like burning incense. I use a punk for lighting fireworks each year.

[-] LoveEspresso@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

How does this word function as a suffix in another word ?

[-] keepthepace@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

Rebel, anti-authorian, no-future, good-for-nothing-except-kicking-nazi-ass 'youth' (who reach their 60s nowadays).

this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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