You dont like the word "fan" because its derived from the word "fanatic" and think when directed towards you it makes you sound crazy. When in actuality it mean you like something. To me thats an over reaction to the word. Giving it more power than it has.
Leonard Nimoy also dislikes the word fan as it is short for fanatic, and preferes the term "followers".
"Followers" is usually found in the same paragraph as "cult", "compound", "Kool-Aid" and/or "suicide". One does not usually see it paired with "Star Trek" or "science-fiction".
Google gives the same number of results for the phrases "cult followers" and "show followers", 1 million results for "followers of the cult" and 1.6 million for "followers of the show"
And to me, thinking that a word has power to control me (it doesn't) is also an overreaction. But hey, to each his own, right?
It does have the power to control you in the sense that it's the sole cause of your reaction to the word. If you had no knowledge of the etymology, the word wouldn't bother you. The problem is, etymology and meaning are completely different things. There are probably hundreds of words you use on a regular basis which have histories of meaning something very different, but that doesn't affect how you use them.
Speaking of fan(atics), has anybody seen this yet? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB28WMv7wUE And yes, that's the image the "general public" has of Star Trek fans. Fat, in uniform, doing very weird things.
^ Honestly we can break this down all day but the main point is we're inspired by Star Trek the television show/canon universe to emulate and expand our current technology, etc.
It should also be pointed out that it's not just Trek fans. Definition of irony - a link to "Star Wars Kid" was on the same page as that YouTube link. All the genres have their seedy underbelly of fandom/otaku. Although the women at Star Wars cons definitely seem to be hotter than other general or Trek conventions. Must be the Slave Leia outfits.
Though Star Wars is more widespread, thus less awkward. People act like they forgot the reason Abrams rebooted Star Trek the way he did. He tried to turn uncool into cool, make a movie for everyone and not just hardcore fans, etc...
Because we own Klingon dictionaries and wear Starfleet uniforms in public, and complain about the ones other people are wearing. "Look at him, that's a captain's uniform, but he's only got one stripe on the sleeve." In short, we bring it on ourselves.
I had to explain the "Star Fleet Academy" window sticker on my car to a Romanian lady at work yesterday. She didn't seem to know what Trek even was, but at least she understood it was a "a joke," as she put it. (I prefer "wry humor," but whatever.)
^^^ Honestly...me too... Didn't want to admit at the time, but I'm glad someone broke the ice. Hi, group. I'm 137th Gebirg. And I'm a geek.