What's in a Weeb? Let's Examine the History of This Word!

One thing I’ve learned: no one can trash an anime fan quite like another anime fan. One word that sums this up is weeb, short for weeaboo, which describes someone who loves anime and manga to the point of obsession. Let’s look at the history of this word together, and why it’s meaning might be changing!

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The History of the Word ‘Weeb’

Back in the old days of 4chan, the word Wapanese was coined as an insult for the more anime-obsessive users of the site, combining “wannabe” and “Japanese.” The 4chan mods hated the term and, in 2005, activated a script to auto-correct all instances of Wapanese to weeaboo. This was a nonsense term coined in this webcomic that had no specific meaning at the time. Thus, the word weeaboo (quickly shortened to weeb) became the default derogatory label for anyone perceived as loving anime and manga too much or in a shallow way.

What is a weeb? Most people would probably say that anyone who thinks about anime and manga all day and secretly wishes they were Japanese fits the definition. While J-List customers of culture are certainly an exception, we’ve all seen anime fans acting a little too enthusiastic about the Japanese pop culture they’re into. Most of us probably had a “weeb phase” as we were growing into the more balanced fan we (hopefully) are today.

The Word ‘Otaku’ Used to Be Negative

The word otaku became the default term for anime fans in the early 1990s. This word is a slightly formal way of saying “you or your family” and was presumably used by socially awkward people in the 1970s and 1980s who tended to like anime. I might use the word otaku if talking to my neighbor, praising their son for passing his university exams.

The term became famous all over the world thanks to the Otaku no Video OAV series by Gainax. This was the story of a normal, well-adjusted university student whose life began falling apart when he started hanging out with a group of anime fans. The show was filled with nostalgia for 1982 (the year Macross came out), and was extremely influential in defining what otaku culture was for early fans.

While otaku had quite a negative connotation inside Japan, this aspect of the word didn’t get translated into English, where it was seen as a positive term. Eventually, Japan caught up, and the stigma of the otaku label faded. I’ve always considered the 2009 appearance of seiyu Nana Mizuki at the Kouhaku Song Battle live event to be the point where calling yourself an otaku became acceptable to everyone.

Other Labels Similar to Weeb

Naturally, labels for obsessive fans of other kinds of fans exist. Here are some examples.

Koreaboos, who love K-POP and K-doramas a little too much. They cause plenty of face-palming when they show up in Seoul.
Teaaboos, who are overly enthusiastic about English culture. I’m sure Harry Potter fans made this even worse.
Francophiles are sometimes called Ouiaboos. I love that one.
Supposedly, Swedaboos are a thing. They shop at IKEA, watch PewDiePie videos and write stuff like, “Hållo, fellöw Swedes!”
Are there Japanese who love America “too much”? Absolutely, and as an English teacher, I met quite a few of them. I had an older student whose house was decked out with posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.

What was your most embarrassing moment as an otaku? Read this blog post next!

Why Negative Labels Get Turned into Positive Ones

I’ll never forget the day I was manning the J-List booth at the San Diego Comic-Con. It was crowded, and visitors were streaming past our table with the flow of the crowd. One man had a T-shirt that said GREEK WEEK on it, a reference to whatever fraternity he belonged to. I said, “For a moment, I thought your shirt said GEEK WEEK.” His expression changed to one of anger, and I realized that, to him, being a “geek” was a bad thing. But to me, there was literally nothing negative about the term. Especially when we were literally at a comic convention where geeky topics were presumably to be celebrated.

Terms like geek and nerd used to be negative terms used to ostracize students who liked computers, D&D or reading comic books. But these things are all “cool” now, and young people today might not believe me when I tell them that we used to have to hide these hobbies from others. Yes, there really was a time when nerdy hobbies had not taken over the world!

(The term “geek” originally referred to a carnival entertainer who put on outrageous acts for audiences. Nerd may have started as “knurd” — drunk spelled backward — which was a slang term for students who studied rather than partied with alcohol.)

Gaijin Do This, Too

For foreigners living in Japan, 外人 gaijin is the most common word we use for ourselves, literally meaning outside + person. It’s a slightly rude word because 外国人 gaikokujin (outside + country + person) is the “proper” way to refer to a foreigner in Japanese.

This doesn’t stop foreigners from using gaijin as a slightly rough-around-the-edges term to define the group we all belong to. But if a Japanese person addresses us with “Hey gaijin!” he’s likely going to get a cold reaction. The word gaijin is pretty much exactly how the “N-word” functions in the U.S.

Thanks for reading this blog post about the word weeb and its history and background. Do you use the term, and if so, in what situations? Tell us in the comment below!