[merylsilverburg]

Originally posted by BlackThornn

O_O! Dude! Talk about twisted. >_> There are some freaky peoples on this planet, I tell you what.

I've referred to myself as an 'otaku' on a couple of occasions.. though I've never been "called" one.. *shrugs* ..I guess I don't really care too much.. the westernization of the word pretty much just meant 'anime fan' for a good long while, and since I've never found myself obsessively staring at anime girls' perfect skin, watching videos and hissing at daylight, or chopping up any poor children, I don't think the meaning of the word is really effective in describing me, or most anyone else in the US who likes anime in the 'average' sense.

Still, this is good info to have. Thanks for the clarification, Meryl! I sure as heck won't be using that word to describe myself any more.

Though I've never referred to myself as "otaku", I also never used the word because I never thought I was one in the "westernized" sense. But after I found out about it, I was like "Whoa, I'm glad!"
Of course, if you don't care, using it in the US is perfectly fine...since it's already been fixed as the word to describe "anime gurus" and not many people know what the real meaning is. I just don't know if using it in Japan or in front of a Japanese person would be a good thing though. ^^;;

Makg, ssjtrunks, mark0: I actually forgot about the whole Otacon thing and how he got his name. ^^;;; Thanks for bringing it up.

I'm really happy to hear that my info was useful for those who didn't know about it.