Poindexter

Definition

A bookish or socially unskilled person.

Etymology

From Jersey Norman Poingdestre (literally “right fist”). The sense “bookish or socially unskilled person” is from the character of the same name in the cartoon Felix the Cat. Its first use appears c. 1981 in the publication University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Slang.

Example Sentences

• "Brain: A quantum-interface bomb? Are you insane in the membrane? / Philip Fry: You got it, Poindexter!"
• "On first listen, Americans of a certain vintage would call one a Poindexter, while older Brits would regard the other as a swot."