Gandalf already said it best,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker
A basic tenant of anything diplomatic or customer service related is that only those that the term is applied to can say whether or not its offensive. It never really works for people outside of that group to say "you should not be offended by this term".
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Also Squirrel, they are clearly two separate words. Ask anyone to speak the two words aloud and I would happily wager the vast majority will make noob a monosyllable. Even prime time (American) television has uttered the word noob, as a single syllable, and in a context more derogatory than complimentary. Whether or not they used to be synonyms or which spawned the other is only anachronism. Their modern usage and meaning have evolved well beyond their 1990s origins.