Being a supporter of F1 racing, I was dismayed by the boring Bahrain track a fortnight ago. Alas, due to mounting pressure from school work and deadlines, I had to give the Melbourne race a miss. And it wasn't such a bad move after all, since I learnt a new word by catching up on print and online news.
And this is also why I think the Brits really have fantastic ways of describing just about any thing, and any noun. What in the world is a "boffin"?
See picture (click to enlarge):
If like me, you were also puzzled over that word, then hurray, we're in the same linguistic ship. Obviously the dictionaries do give the meaning of that word.
Some examples:
"A person engaged in scientific or technical research"
"A person with a skill considered to be arcane, complex and difficult"
I was wondering what the word really meant in the context of F1 racing and decided to explore the site. Heading towards Youtube, I found the fuel partner of Ferrari - Shell - commenting about the need for improved fuel design technology for the racing year 2010.
See the video (but it gets a tad boring if you're not into this):
Wikipedia gives a quick lowdown on where "boffin" is used. Interestingly, the word is used in commonwealth nations like the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and even India. It beats me as to why the word isn't used in Singapore.
Even the trusty OED gives the following as the etymology:
[Etym. unknown. Numerous conjectures have been made about the origin of the word but all lack foundation.]
And most dictionaries state clearly that this usage is largely informal or slang. Would you be using this word anytime soon?
Well, to be fair, the word does sound a little quirky. Muffin, anyone?
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