this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Science Memes

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[โ€“] FishFace@piefed.social 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

"Wizard" historically had a negative connotation though.

It's to be expected that an old suffix can have multiple meanings.

[โ€“] stray@pawb.social 2 points 1 hour ago

It could have a negative connotation. One could be a genuine wise man or essentially a snake oil salesman, so the word could be applied in both ways. It's like how we use "genius" as an insult; we're using the word in an ironic and sarcastic way.

Here is a collection of various uses throughout history:

https://www.oed.com/dictionary/wizard_n?tab=meaning_and_use