This question spawns from the comments
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/6986/1328).

I've heard that オタク could or could not be derogatory. During the times I've
been in Japan and heard it used, I didn't think that it had any connotation of
being an insulting term, but is this true?

I'm not sure about other countries, but in America as a borrowed word, many
people are proud to be called an "オタク" depending on the circumstance. Is it
not the same in Japan?
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slang
Is being called an オタク derogatory?
Although I can imagine that オタク people may sometimes call themselves オタク
proudly among themselves, I think that calling someone オタク is usually
derogatory. The word has negative connotations such as “narrow interest,” “not
caring about anything except for a specific topic,” and “not sociable.” See
also
[Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%81%8A%E3%81%9F%E3%81%8F&stype=1&dtype=0&dname=0na),
sense [1]-5 and its remark.

As I understand it, the word _nerd_ in English has roughly the same nuance.
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I think it depends on the person who gets offended by being called so.

According to 日本語俗語辞書 ( <http://zokugo-dict.com/05o/otaku.htm> ),

> オタクとは、特定の分野に関して強い興味を抱き、関連するものを収集したり、詳しく知ることに時間を費やす人のこと。【年代】 1989年

To translate it, 「オタク」 means a person who has an strong interest on a
particular field and spend more time for knowing the subject or collecting the
related goods.

In my opinion, 「オタク」 used to have a negative connotation. It meant "nerd"
except that the person's expertise doesn't have to be computers but often
Anime, Manga, video games, or anything subculture. The term often implied
social impairment of the person.

The origin of the word is not clear even for Japanese. It is said that when
otaku people talked each other, they used 「お宅」 to refer to the second person
instead of saying "you". Or they are kind of people who barely goes out but
stays home. (「宅」 means home.) Or a columnist, 中森明夫, used it for the first time
in a Manga magazine called, 漫画ブリッコ in 1983 (
<http://www.nikkoku.net/tomonokai/toukou_card.html?snum=148>).

About for this decade I would say, it has been used more openly to describe
the person's characteristics which is maniac/specialized on a particular field
with a positive connotation. But the term still suggests that the person is
being obsessed about something and not normal/crazy/ill and less social so it
may offend somebody who want to be considered normal.

「秋葉系」「キモオタ」 should be the alternative words for pre-オタク. The link describes
the typical 「秋葉系」 although it is exaggerating to make it funny for a TV show.
<http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2130699281942633401>
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