In his "Last Lap" page in january 's issue of Vintage Racecar, Mike Lawrence gives some
interesting descriptions.
Anorak: "...people in anoraks (parkas) and wooly hats who stand at the end of railway platforms jotting down the serial numbers of locomotives. I once knew a guy who jotted down not only
the number of the locomotive but also the number of the rolling stock and submitted unusual
combinations to journals run for avanced Anoraks."
Autolycan: "a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles".
"In Autolycan terms, my most vivid memory of this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed
was not the current F1 cars and drivers, it was the Bugatti T251"..."Autolycans are not Anoraks.
An Autolycan will look at something like the Bugatti, while the Anorak will not see it because
he is too busy logging in chassis numbers."
So Anoraks or Autolycans? or both?
Anoraks and Autolycan
Started by
marat
, Feb 07 2004 07:54
14 replies to this topic
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#2
petefenelon
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 09:50
Autolycan, definitely. Describes my tastes in music, racing, and, hell, even railways. You could put a Ferrari F2003-GA in the car park outside my place and I'd peer at it for a couple of minutes, nod curtly and move on. But find a Berta and put it there and I'd be there all day...;)
#3
2F-001
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 10:31
Maybe it depends on the interest in, and capacity for, detail of the labeller himself... at one extreme the idea that a Bugatti 251 is interestingly different from any other motor vehicle might be deemed ''anorak''; whilst at the other, fascination with any minute detail differences between one 251 and another (if there were more than one: I'm not even sure what it is - where does that place me?!) might be declared ''only mildly autolycanic" in quarters closer to home.
One man's anorak is another man's Autolycan, perhaps.
The term puzzles me though, as "lycanthropy" is described as "insanity in which the patient thinks she is a wolf".
Whether this means the sufferer has delusions of emulating a knowledgable and respected contributor to motor sport forums - or wanders around making noises like a Seventies Grand Prix car - is not made clear.
( ref: "Mrs Byrne's Dictionary of unusual, obscure and preposterous words" by Josefa Heifetz Byrne, Granada 1974 )
One man's anorak is another man's Autolycan, perhaps.
The term puzzles me though, as "lycanthropy" is described as "insanity in which the patient thinks she is a wolf".
Whether this means the sufferer has delusions of emulating a knowledgable and respected contributor to motor sport forums - or wanders around making noises like a Seventies Grand Prix car - is not made clear.
( ref: "Mrs Byrne's Dictionary of unusual, obscure and preposterous words" by Josefa Heifetz Byrne, Granada 1974 )
#4
David McKinney
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 11:52
So am I both or neither?
I might note chassis numbers but would still appreciate the 251
Can I be an autorak?
I might note chassis numbers but would still appreciate the 251
Can I be an autorak?
#5
Tim Murray
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 12:31
"My Father nam'd me Autolycus; who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale Act IV Scene II.
In this context Autolycus the 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles' is a rogue and a thief. I think I'll stick to being an anorak. :
In this context Autolycus the 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles' is a rogue and a thief. I think I'll stick to being an anorak. :
#6
Roger Clark
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 12:40
Is an autolycan related to Autolycus, son of the god Hermes, and a notorious sheep-stealer?
#7
Vitesse2
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 12:42
Originally posted by Roger Clark
..... a notorious sheep-stealer?
That would be BorderReiver then ....
#8
ensign14
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 13:38
Autolycan, definitely. Whereas I will appreciate Ferraris and Maseratis and McLarens et al, I have far more sympathy for the Isolias, Ceekars, Osellas and LDSs of this world.
The Autolykos in myth was a son of Hermes, and able to shift the shape of anything he touched, enabling him to half-inch it...he was also the true father of Odysseus (Ulysses).
The Autolykos in myth was a son of Hermes, and able to shift the shape of anything he touched, enabling him to half-inch it...he was also the true father of Odysseus (Ulysses).
#9
Geoff E
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 14:12
What is the name for someone who knows all about the differences between an anokak and a parka? 
#10
Option1
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 15:55
Hmmm, I guess I'm closer to an autolycan. However, unlike Pete, I'd drool forever over the F2003-GA as well as the Berta. Maybe a better way of defining myself might be "car slut"
Neil
Neil
#11
ensign14
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 17:08
Inuit.Originally posted by Geoff E
What is the name for someone who knows all about the differences between an anokak and a parka?
#12
D-Type
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 19:04
An interesting question.
I suppose I'm an Autolycan.
I think most TNF-ers are autolycans. Witness the current Can-Am thread ehere there seems to be as much discussion of the pace car as of the race and the racers.
On the other hand, we also have several anoraks.
And then there are the schizophrenics (Sp?) who are both.
Pity this wasn't posted as a poll. Whoops! Only an anorak would be interested in the answer.
I suppose I'm an Autolycan.
I think most TNF-ers are autolycans. Witness the current Can-Am thread ehere there seems to be as much discussion of the pace car as of the race and the racers.
On the other hand, we also have several anoraks.
And then there are the schizophrenics (Sp?) who are both.
Pity this wasn't posted as a poll. Whoops! Only an anorak would be interested in the answer.
#13
Geoff E
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 21:01
Originally posted by ensign14
Inuit.
Unuit?
Sodidi!;)
#14
petefenelon
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 21:29
Anorak or Autolycan? - well, a song that could suggest that he's both.... Footy anorak in this case, but I think the principle applies to motorsport too ;)
1966 AND ALL THAT
"We sat and decided
as the seasons collided
that our love was fairly Utopian
If it wasn't for my pills
my psychiatric ills
and your unreliable Fallopian
Then I guess we'd be fine
embraced on cloud nine
Emotionally impossible to sever
Then you'd turn around quickly
And ever so sickly
I'd tell you I'd love you forever...
[CHORUS]
if only you'd give me my Lev Yashin poster back
six months ago I returned your brown anorak
but you keep forgetting
and it's far too upsetting
so baby Ferenc Puskas to you, to you
so baby Ferenc Puskas to you....
And you know it's a shame
But we were never the same
On account of your stupid amnesia
Through teardrops I'd stare
At the wall that's now bare
And I reach for the Milk of Magnesia
And I'll die on the floor
And leave a note on the door
Saying this ape has just left Gibraltar
And in Hell it will rain
and I'll say once again
that I'll stand next to you at the altar...
[CHORUS]"
- N. Blackwell, 1985
1966 AND ALL THAT
"We sat and decided
as the seasons collided
that our love was fairly Utopian
If it wasn't for my pills
my psychiatric ills
and your unreliable Fallopian
Then I guess we'd be fine
embraced on cloud nine
Emotionally impossible to sever
Then you'd turn around quickly
And ever so sickly
I'd tell you I'd love you forever...
[CHORUS]
if only you'd give me my Lev Yashin poster back
six months ago I returned your brown anorak
but you keep forgetting
and it's far too upsetting
so baby Ferenc Puskas to you, to you
so baby Ferenc Puskas to you....
And you know it's a shame
But we were never the same
On account of your stupid amnesia
Through teardrops I'd stare
At the wall that's now bare
And I reach for the Milk of Magnesia
And I'll die on the floor
And leave a note on the door
Saying this ape has just left Gibraltar
And in Hell it will rain
and I'll say once again
that I'll stand next to you at the altar...
[CHORUS]"
- N. Blackwell, 1985
#15
D-Type
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Posted 07 February 2004 - 21:47
Originally posted by Geoff E
Unuit?
Sodidi!;)
