STEAMPUNK

Now there’s a word that sounds like it should come with attitude.

Before I actually knew what steampunk was, the word itself had already created a very specific picture in my head – a slightly feral, punky looking kid standing there with arms crossed, hair going in six different directions, boots on, attitude fully activated, with steam quite literally pouring out of their ears. Basically, a teenager who has just been told to clean their room.

It already sounds like a character before you even know what it means.

Steampunk.

You can see it, can’t you?

And honestly, I still prefer my version.

And this is probably why I’ve become slightly fascinated by the word. Some words politely sit there and wait for you to look them up. Steampunk barges through the door wearing goggles, kicks over a chair and demands your attention.

The real meaning of steampunk, however, is considerably more elaborate. It’s a type of science fiction and a whole retrofuturistic style built around the idea of 19^th century – particularly Victorian era technology.

Think Victorian England, but with imagination turned up to eleven.

Instead of sleek computers, touchscreens and invisible Wi-Fi doing mysterious things in the background, steampunk gives us brass pipes, copper, iron, wood, cogs, gears, levers, clockwork contraptions and enough exposed machinery to make Workplace Health and Safety nervous.

Everything looks gloriously complicated.

Why have a simple switch when you could have six gears, three brass valves, a pressure gauge and a small puff of steam every time you turn the lights on?

Fashion is another major part of it. Men might wear waistcoats, long coats, top hats and pocket watches, while women may appear in corsets, bustles, lace, layered skirts and, for reasons I completely support, aviator goggles.

Nothing says ‘Victorian sophistication’ quite like looking as though you’re about to fly an experimental steam-powered aircraft off the roof of Buckingham Palace.

The word itself was apparently coined in 1987 by author K.W. Jeter as a playful take on ‘cyberpunk’. And while cyberpunk sounds dark, digital and vaguely threatening, steampunk sounds much more entertaining.

It sounds like someone is cross.

‘How did the meeting go?’

‘Steampunk.’

Enough said.

I think that’s partly why I’m so fascinated by the word. Some words are interesting because of what they mean. Steampunk is interesting because of how it sounds. It has movement. It has personality. It practically arrives in the room wearing boots.

There’s also something wonderful about the whole steampunk idea — taking modern imagination and running it backwards through history. Phones, computers, vehicles and gadgets are redesigned as though someone in 1885 had invented them using whatever happened to be lying around the workshop.

Brass? Yes.

Gears? Absolutely.

Random pressure gauge that may serve no purpose whatsoever? Essential.

So yes, steampunk may officially describe a Victorian-inspired world of steam-powered technology and retrofuturistic invention.

But in my head?

It will forever be a stroppy little punk standing in the corner, arms folded, eyes narrowed, with steam coming out of its ears.

Probably because someone turned off the Wi-Fi.

And frankly, I think the dictionary missed an opportunity.

Pfft.

Steampunk.