On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Mike Padlipsky wrote: > from http://www.bartleby.com/61/0/G0070000.html : > > Our word geek is now chiefly associated with student and computer > slang; one probably thinks first of a computer geek. In origin, > however, it is one of the words American English borrowed from the > vocabulary of the circus, which was a much more significant source > of entertainment in the United States in the 19th and early 20th > century than it is now. Large numbers of traveling circuses left a > cultural legacy in various and sometimes unexpected ways. For > example, Superman and other comic book superheroes owe much of their > look to circus acrobats, who were similarly costumed in capes and > tights. Well, that's yet another childhood illusion shattered. L. I thought it was because cartoonists _liked_ drawing men in tights. <http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/><L.Wood@ee.surrey.ac.uk>