I came up with the term trekkie - Gene Roddenberry

[brian577]

Was "Trekkie" really his idea? I'd never heard of this before, but he said it.

 

[Finn]

When did he say it?

 

[Caesar753]

Any claim made by Gene should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[T'Girl]

According to my mother, back in the 1970's and early 80's the term "trekkie" wasn't alway popular with the general fan base. It was used as a derisive term by one group of fans for another, if Roddenberry had created the term, it's hard to see that happening.

 

[Smellincoffee]

According to Leonard Nimoy, Roddenberry responded to a question about Trekkers by saying "Trekker? It's Trekkie. I should know -- I invented the thing". I doubt very much he coined the word Trekkie: he was probably expressing a preference for how Trek fans were called.

I think Jimmy Doohan also said as much in Trekkies.

 

[Sybok]

According to Leonard Nimoy, Roddenberry responded to a question about Trekkers by saying "Trekker? It's Trekkie. I should know -- I invented the thing". I doubt very much he coined the word Trekkie: he was probably expressing a preference for how Trek fans were called.

I think Jimmy Doohan also said as much in Trekkies.

i think he was referring to "star trek" as the thing he invented

 

[brian577]

According to Leonard Nimoy, Roddenberry responded to a question about Trekkers by saying "Trekker? It's Trekkie. I should know -- I invented the thing". I doubt very much he coined the word Trekkie: he was probably expressing a preference for how Trek fans were called.

I think Jimmy Doohan also said as much in Trekkies.

i think he was referring to "star trek" as the thing he invented

That's probably where the misquote I found came from.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Certainly in early communications GR had with fan clubs (he used to send semi-regular letters out to various ST clubs in the 70s and early 80s), and in memos, GR would often mention the term "Trekkies", but a group of fans bailed him up at a big convention and told him that "Trekkies" had developed some negative connotations in the media and from now on they wanted to be called "Trekkers". He would then often put both terms into his memos.

I have a feeling the matter may be covered in the book, "Letters to Star Trek" by Susan Sackett.

 

[sonak]

Certainly in early communications GR had with fan clubs (he used to send semi-regular letters out to various ST clubs in the 70s and early 80s), and in memos, GR would often mention the term "Trekkies", but a group of fans bailed him up at a big convention and told him that "Trekkies" had developed some negative connotations in the media and from now on they wanted to be called "Trekkers". He would then often put both terms into his memos.

I have a feeling the matter may be covered in the book, "Letters to Star Trek" by Susan Sackett.

I think the name change to "trekker" was one of the silliest moves by any fandom. It either comes off as folks being embarrassed to be associated with Star Trek fans or as an attempt to divide the fanbase between "cool" Star Trek fans and "nerd" Star Trek fans.

The idea of adults letting others make them feel bad about who they are or what they like is just sad.