Gunner?

[Luveroni]

What's a gunner? It just seems like its someone with hopes and dreams that works hard to realize those. Why do we hate them so much?

I don't really have too many hardcore pre-med friends and don't really talk about this stuff that often. I just read the term a lot on here and realized that it tends to always be referred to with disdain.

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[DrYoda]

Technically a gunner is someone who screws over other people in their quest for a good grade (the urban legends of people tearing pages out of library books ect). I'm sure somewhere one exists but they are definitely rare.

Many on SDN do tend to incorrectly use gunner to mean someone who works hard.

 

[Hope0913]

this video might help

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzbuOILvstE[/YOUTUBE]

i used to know gunner #31 in high school, everybody in the class was --> seriously

 

[Law2Doc]

What's a gunner? It just seems like its someone with hopes and dreams that works hard to realize those. ...

Nope. A gunner is a person who compromises interpersonal relations to get what he wants. He's the guy who tries to screw over anyone he sees as competition. He wants to get an A, but would rather that everyone else get an F. You see this type as the one who provides peers with misinformation, sabotages projects and presentations, tells everyone how little work he does in hopes someone will emulate. In my law school there was a person who used to rip the cases out of library books after he read them, so that many in the class would not have access (I'm not sure how this became "urban legend", but it has certainly happened in multiple law schools, including mine, if not elsewhere). In med school you frequently see a gunner jumping in on pimp questions to show up his peers.

What you are describing is a bastardization of the term, people call the smart guy in the class "gunner" much like they might call someone they don't like a "fascist". It's not being used as definitional. It's not accurate. You don't want to be a gunner. But you likely will meet some.

 

[Doctor246853]

Nope. A gunner is a person who compromises interpersonal relations to get what he wants. He's the guy who tries to screw over anyone he sees as competition. He wants to get an A, but would rather that everyone else get an F. You see this type as the one who provides peers with misinformation, sabotages projects and presentations, tells everyone how little work he does in hopes someone will emulate. In my law school there was a person who used to rip the cases out of library books after he read them, so that many in the class would not have access (I'm not sure how this became "urban legend", but it has certainly happened in multiple law schools, including mine, if not elsewhere). In med school you frequently see a gunner jumping in on pimp questions to show up his peers.

What you are describing is a bastardization of the term, people call the smart guy in the class "gunner" much like they might call someone they don't like a "fascist". It's not being used as definitional. It's not accurate. You don't want to be a gunner. But you likely will meet some.

DATS BULLLLL!!! Im sure as hell a true gunner but dont care what the next premed is doing. If you are doing your thing and trying hard then Ima try harder, if you study 10 hours a day then ima study 15 if you get a A im working for a A+, if you bring the teacher and apple Ima plant her an apple tree,water it,watch it grow,make a profit with the apples and give her the money!!

 

[christina30]

DATS BULLLLL!!! Im sure as hell a true gunner but dont care what the next premed is doing. If you are doing your thing and trying hard then Ima try harder, if you study 10 hours a day then ima study 15 if you get a A im working for a A+, if you bring the teacher and apple Ima plant her an apple tree,water it,watch it grow,make a profit with the apples and give her the money!!

If you didn't care, you wouldn't be so deadset on one-upping that "next pre-med". Gunner.

 

[blaithnaid]

DATS BULLLLL!!! Im sure as hell a true gunner but dont care what the next premed is doing. If you are doing your thing and trying hard then Ima try harder, if you study 10 hours a day then ima study 15 if you get a A im working for a A+, if you bring the teacher and apple Ima plant her an apple tree,water it,watch it grow,make a profit with the apples and give her the money!!

You are trying way too hard.

Give it a rest and go make some cat macros or something.

 

[Doctor246853]

You are trying way too hard.

Give it a rest and go make some cat macros or something.

U guys are *******es I was being sarcastic... Just saying we hard workers

 

[NickNaylor]

DATS BULLLLL!!! Im sure as hell a true gunner but dont care what the next premed is doing. If you are doing your thing and trying hard then Ima try harder, if you study 10 hours a day then ima study 15 if you get a A im working for a A+, if you bring the teacher and apple Ima plant her an apple tree,water it,watch it grow,make a profit with the apples and give her the money!!

 

[JoshUNCW]

I'd give him a 1. It would have been mildly more amusing if this hadn't been posted over and over and over and over.

 

[Squeal]

U guys are *******es I was being sarcastic... Just saying we hard workers

This made me laugh a little.

 

[peripherin]

A gunner seems to be a type A with no social skills.

 

[12345a]

this video might help

[YOUTUBE]RzbuOILvstE[/YOUTUBE]

i used to know gunner #31 in high school, everybody in the class was --> seriously

lol grades >>>>girls was funny

 

[Hifey]

this video might help

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzbuOILvstE[/YOUTUBE]

i used to know gunner #31 in high school, everybody in the class was --> seriously

Haha I have the four-colored pen! I love it, but i'm often waaay too lazy to actually change the colors. Plus, I end up never studying anything I wrote down anyways.

 

[Law2Doc]

DATS BULLLLL!!! Im sure as hell a true gunner but dont care what the next premed is doing. If you are doing your thing and trying hard then Ima try harder, if you study 10 hours a day then ima study 15 if you get a A im working for a A+, if you bring the teacher and apple Ima plant her an apple tree,water it,watch it grow,make a profit with the apples and give her the money!!

Again, what you are describing is not a gunner, sorry you are simply a wannabe. If you were a gunner, you wouldn't be as concerned with trying harder, you would be concerned with what the next premed is doing. Because that is the DEFINITION of gunner.

 

[Law2Doc]

A gunner seems to be a type A with no social skills.

Actually a successful gunner will have ample social skills. You'd need them to screw over someone without seeming to. In clinical rotations the guy who makes you look foolish in front of the attending while schmoozing him is probably a gunner, and he's doing it with social skills.

 

[Law2Doc]

this video might help

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzbuOILvstE[/YOUTUBE]

i used to know gunner #31 in high school, everybody in the class was --> seriously

Although the definition at the front of the video accurately defines gunner, none of the folks IN the video would constitute gunners, except perhaps the woman fighting over the laundry machines. A gunner has TWO components, hard work AND compromising relationships. Without the latter s/he's not a gunner. Now that doesn't mean someone who doesn't want to anything other than study. It means someone who is either studying, or plotting how to make everyone else do poorly. Basically getting to the top of the class by stepping on everyone else. In this video, nobody is getting stepped on. Also gunners NEVER are the ones sitting in the front of the class or with those multi-colored pens. Those are the squids who work hard and live in the library, but they are generally harmless. A gunner NEEDS to sit behind whomever he considers as competition because otherwise he can't see what they are looking at in class, can't read their computer over their shoulder, can't see how they take notes. He is too obsessed with what others are doing to sit in front of them. Further, a gunner would never wait until the end of class to raise his/her hands to ask questions. You need to do it in the middle of the class, to sidetrack the professor onto non-important matters so he doesn't adequately cover that which you already know but your peers might. Every move is calculated. A gunner isn's someone who spends every second studying. He spends a greater percentage of that time trying to out-"game" his competitors. I think this video sadly misses what makes a gunner such a jerk.

This is actually the second follies video from NYMC with "gunner" in it -- in another one the main singer was wearing a "Gunner" T shirt, obviously thinking it cool to be labeled a gunner. Seems clear that the students here don't have a clue what a gunner is, which is probably a good testament to the school. They apparently have very few since nobody there seems to know what the term means. Or else they are all gunners, trying to lure naive rubes with multi-colored pens to NYMC so they can exploit them.

 

[boaz]

The term "gunner" is thrown around in SDN way too much. On SDN it usually means someone who takes their studies very very seriously. If we're going to expand the definition of gunner, we should first include the "slacker" who brags about how little he studies.

There's nothing wrong with taking studies seriously. Different people have different interests.

[/RANT]

 

[Law2Doc]

The term "gunner" is thrown around in SDN way too much. On SDN it usually means someone who takes their studies very very seriously. If we're going to expand the definition of gunner, we should first include the "slacker" who brags about how little he studies.

There's nothing wrong with taking studies seriously. Different people have different interests.

[/RANT]

Agreed. The problem is many folks come out of college haven't been exposed to a true gunner yet, and so they assume they know what gunner means when they may not. "gunner" and "slacker" are terms thrown around much like "fascist" used to be thrown around -- not really being used definitionally, just terms of banter. Which would be fine, but on a site like SDN, people take those definitions as true.

"Gunner" in its true sense is really more synonymous with "A-hole". The folks who study hard and do well, and sit in the front of the class with their multi-colored pens, are often the furthest thing in the world from a gunner. Most probably would help you out or do you a favor if requested. The gunner sits in back, helping no one, wondering how he can succeed by putting up impediments to others. You don't want to be a gunner. Being a gunner isn't cool. Working hard and getting A's is fine, but not gunnerism.

 

[Geekchick921]

Cut-throat bitch on House = Gunner, especially when they were competing for the fellowship spots. Do you watch?

 

[Law2Doc]

Cut-throat bitch on House = Gunner, especially when they were competing for the fellowship spots. Do you watch?

Yeah, that kind of backstabbing probably counts. Although I personally think the show jumped the shark once they brought on new "residents".

 

[Geekchick921]

Agreed. The problem is many folks come out of college haven't been exposed to a true gunner yet, and so they assume they know what gunner means when they may not. "gunner" and "slacker" are terms thrown around much like "fascist" used to be thrown around -- not really being used definitionally, just terms of banter. Which would be fine, but on a site like SDN, people take those definitions as true.

"Gunner" in its true sense is really more synonymous with "A-hole". The folks who study hard and do well, and sit in the front of the class with their multi-colored pens, are often the furthest thing in the world from a gunner. Most probably would help you out or do you a favor if requested. The gunner sits in back, helping no one, wondering how he can succeed by putting up impediments to others. You don't want to be a gunner. Being a gunner isn't cool. Working hard and getting A's is fine, but not gunnerism.

Are you stalking me, L2D?

 

[heyyouyouyou]

gunners are focused on their primary goal, a competitive residency that is their #1 choice.

however, most gunners do not tend to stray from the mainstream. they seem to take *only* the classes that will help them prepare for their boards, etc. they are not exceptionally gifted (i.e., prolly not much calculus, quantum physics, etc...).

that said, my theory is that, because gunners are so 'normal', they feel that they need to get superior grades on the menial classes that they are taking, including med school classes (which are not particularly advanced). also, they feel like they must exert themselves in, sometimes annoying, ways in front of others.

i was a math major in college, so i didn't really have any exposure to it as an undergrad, but sometimes, you have to just sit back and let them do what they have to do. its a strange counterculture that needs some psychoanalysis.

 

[jpatel]

gunners are wannabe smart but they are not. I know people who study more than 3 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY in undergrad and act like smart as ****. I mean like seriously. I understand if its the day before the test. u b surprised how many of these exist in undergrad.

 

[stevesavi]

Although the definition at the front of the video accurately defines gunner, none of the folks IN the video would constitute gunners, except perhaps the woman fighting over the laundry machines. A gunner has TWO components, hard work AND compromising relationships. Without the latter s/he's not a gunner. Now that doesn't mean someone who doesn't want to anything other than study. It means someone who is either studying, or plotting how to make everyone else do poorly. Basically getting to the top of the class by stepping on everyone else. In this video, nobody is getting stepped on. Also gunners NEVER are the ones sitting in the front of the class or with those multi-colored pens. Those are the squids who work hard and live in the library, but they are generally harmless. A gunner NEEDS to sit behind whomever he considers as competition because otherwise he can't see what they are looking at in class, can't read their computer over their shoulder, can't see how they take notes. He is too obsessed with what others are doing to sit in front of them. Further, a gunner would never wait until the end of class to raise his/her hands to ask questions. You need to do it in the middle of the class, to sidetrack the professor onto non-important matters so he doesn't adequately cover that which you already know but your peers might. Every move is calculated. A gunner isn's someone who spends every second studying. He spends a greater percentage of that time trying to out-"game" his competitors. I think this video sadly misses what makes a gunner such a jerk.

This is actually the second follies video from NYMC with "gunner" in it -- in another one the main singer was wearing a "Gunner" T shirt, obviously thinking it cool to be labeled a gunner. Seems clear that the students here don't have a clue what a gunner is, which is probably a good testament to the school. They apparently have very few since nobody there seems to know what the term means. Or else they are all gunners, trying to lure naive rubes with multi-colored pens to NYMC so they can exploit them.

made me laugh.

 

[Perrotfish]

gunners are wannabe smart but they are not. I know people who study more than 3 hours EVERY SINGLE DAY in undergrad and act like smart as ****. I mean like seriously. I understand if its the day before the test. u b surprised how many of these exist in undergrad.

Wow, three whole hours a day?

 

[JokerMD]

asdf

 

[Dissected]

Wow, three whole hours a day?

"Gunner" in its true sense is really more synonymous with "A-hole". The folks who study hard and do well, and sit in the front of the class with their multi-colored pens, are often the furthest thing in the world from a gunner.

Totally agreed. I can't say I've met a gunner-type yet. Some a-holes who only care about their grades? sure, but no back stabbing success hungry shysters yet.

 

[ownage]

I dont know why people go crazy over some piece of paper. If i get into med school, I wouldnt care if I came top of class or was average as long as I graduated.

 

[christina30]

Wow, three whole hours a day?

Three hours every single day as an undergrad is a ridiculous amount if you ask me.

 

[Perrotfish]

"Gunner" in its true sense is really more synonymous with "A-hole". The folks who study hard and do well, and sit in the front of the class with their multi-colored pens, are often the furthest thing in the world from a gunner..The gunner sits in back, helping no one, wondering how he can succeed by putting up impediments to others. You don't want to be a gunner. Being a gunner isn't cool. Working hard and getting A's is fine, but not gunnerism.

See I disagree. I've always heard the term gunner used to mean someone who had, in general, have lost their perspective in some way, and particularly when they develop a bizare concept on what is and is not a personel failure. Being a gunner can make you an A-hole (since losing a sense of proportion would tend to promote D-baggery), but you can be a gunner without being an A-hole. You can also still be a good student, even a very hard working one, without being a gunner.

Examples:

Person who studies 15 hours a day: not necessarily a gunner. Could just be a regular guy who wants Ortho.
Person who studies 15 hours a day, is at the top of the class for every test, and often publically complains/cries because they are so far behind: gunner
Person who worked hard to get a 250 on the step 1 and is proud of it: not a gunner.
But if that person tells you they're miserable because they're furious at their terrible performance: gunner
Person who works hard and shows an interest on rotations: good student
Same person berates their peers for failing the team when they take their alloted day off: gunner.

Note that in none of these situations is the gunner actually getting ahead, even in they're own mind, because of their actions. They have just completley and totally lost perspective on what is average, and have come to react to being anything less than the absolute best of the best in the same way that most people would react to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Obviously backstabbing is one annoying behavior this can promote, but that's not actually necessary. Many gunners are actually quite willing to help others, provided you can put up with them refering to grades two standard deviations above yours (and above the mean) as 'below average'.

Three hours every single day as an undergrad is a ridiculous amount if you ask me.

No wonder so many people are shocked by medical school work loads. I went to an engineering school: anyone who didn't study 3 hours a day was either a last semester senior, a genius, or setting himself up to fail out.

I remember about half of the people at football games brought their Calc books for halftime. It made for really embarassing ESPN footage.

 

[bannie22]

I hate gunners. (Arsenal)


Other than those, I dont mind the other type of gunners.

 

[Law2Doc]

See I disagree. I've always heard the term gunner used to mean someone who had, in general, have lost their perspective in some way, and particularly when they develop a bizzare concept on what is and is not a personel failure. Being a gunner can make you an A-hole (since losing a sense of proportion would tend to promote D-baggery), but you can be a gunner without being an A-hole. You can also still be a good student, even a very hard working one, without being a gunner....

Your definition actually misses a key component of being a gunner, the compromising of relationships. Meaning there is absolutely no way to be a gunner without being an A-hole. It may take a while for people to realize you are an A-hole, but no, you cannot be a gunner without being one. I agree you can be a good hard working student without being a gunner. Most hard working students aren't gunners. The person who works hard and gets A's is not a gunner. Nor is the person who logs 15 hours a day, sits in front of the class with that multi colored pen, and asks the teacher dozens of questions after class. The person who works hard, gets A's and whines about it not being an A+ is still not a gunner, because a gunner isn't really focused on themselves. He would be happier to be the only one to get an A than to get one of several A's. So he wouldn't be whining about himself getting only an A, he would be whining that he can't believe they gave Bob and Steve A's because they clearly weren't right on #6. If he can trip enough people up so that they get B's he is happy. His weapons are frequently those of sabotage and misinformation. He's always willing to share materials with the class he has found that he knows are irrelevant and time wasting. He spends more time researching other people's presentation projects than his own, so he can show them up. And so on. The focus is external, and the target of his ire is the rest of the class. True gunners fortunately aren't that common, but in a class of 150, there are usually one or two. And they don't even have to be at the top of the class, they just have to see others as competition and be motivated to do something about it other than focusing on their own studies.

 

[ownage]

i know bunch people with >3.9 who study literally all day. They hibernate in the library lol. I wonder when they ate.

 

[Narmerguy]

See I disagree. I've always heard the term gunner used to mean someone who had, in general, have lost their perspective in some way, and particularly when they develop a bizare concept on what is and is not a personel failure. Being a gunner can make you an A-hole (since losing a sense of proportion would tend to promote D-baggery), but you can be a gunner without being an A-hole. You can also still be a good student, even a very hard working one, without being a gunner.

Examples:

Person who studies 15 hours a day: not necessarily a gunner. Could just be a regular guy who wants Ortho.
Person who studies 15 hours a day, is at the top of the class for every test, and often publically complains/cries because they are so far behind: gunner
Person who worked hard to get a 250 on the step 1 and is proud of it: not a gunner.
But if that person tells you they're miserable because they're furious at their terrible performance: gunner
Person who works hard and shows an interest on rotations: good student
Same person berates their peers for failing the team when they take their alloted day off: gunner.

Note that in none of these situations is the gunner actually getting ahead, even in they're own mind, because of their actions. They have just completley and totally lost perspective on what is average, and have come to react to being anything less than the absolute best of the best in the same way that most people would react to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Obviously backstabbing is one annoying behavior this can promote, but that's not actually necessary. Many gunners are actually quite willing to help others, provided you can put up with them refering to grades two standard deviations above yours (and above the mean) as 'below average'.



No wonder so many people are shocked by medical school work loads. I went to an engineering school: anyone who didn't study 3 hours a day was either a last semester senior, a genius, or setting himself up to fail out.

I remember about half of the people at football games brought their Calc books for halftime. It made for really embarassing ESPN footage.

Sure a lot of people use it this way, especially on SDN, but it is not the true definition of a gunner. It's proliferation does not justify it's use.

 

[Perrotfish]

Your definition actually misses a key component of being a gunner, the compromising of relationships. Meaning there is absolutely no way to be a gunner without being an A-hole. It may take a while for people to realize you are an A-hole, but no, you cannot be a gunner without being one. I agree you can be a good hard working student without being a gunner. Most hard working students aren't gunners. The person who works hard and gets A's is not a gunner. Nor is the person who logs 15 hours a day, sits in front of the class with that multi colored pen, and asks the teacher dozens of questions after class. The person who works hard, gets A's and whines about it not being an A+ is still not a gunner, because a gunner isn't really focused on themselves. He would be happier to be the only one to get an A than to get one of several A's. So he wouldn't be whining about himself getting only an A, he would be whining that he can't believe they gave Bob and Steve A's because they clearly weren't right on #6. If he can trip enough people up so that they get B's he is happy. His weapons are frequently those of sabotage and misinformation. He's always willing to share materials with the class he has found that he knows are irrelevant and time wasting. He spends more time researching other people's presentation projects than his own, so he can show them up. And so on. The focus is external, and the target of his ire is the rest of the class. True gunners fortunately aren't that common, but in a class of 150, there are usually one or two. And they don't even have to be at the top of the class, they just have to see others as competition and be motivated to do something about it other than focusing on their own studies.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I think that the definition of a word, particularly a slang word like gunner, is defined by how it's used and the definition that you're using is much narrower than its common use definition. When most people say 'gunner' they just mean someone who is sort of crazy when it comes to grades, nothing more. Honestly I think it makes more sense that way, too. If gunners are limited to Aholes... well we don't need a new word for that. We already have a very extensive vocabulary to describe people who screw other people over.

 

[Law2Doc]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I think that the definition of a word, particularly a slang word like gunner, is defined by how it's used and the definition that you're using is much narrower than its common use definition. When most people say 'gunner' they just mean someone who is sort of crazy when it comes to grades, nothing more. Honestly I think it makes more sense that way, too. If gunners are limited to Aholes... well we don't need a new word for that. We already have a very extensive vocabulary to describe people who screw other people over.

Well, gunners are limited to A-holes but it's not a synonym. You cannot be a gunner without being an A-hole, but there are tons of ways of being an A-hole without being a gunner. A gunner has been a term in use for over 40 years, so how you think it should be defined, or how you have heard it misused is kind of irrelevant. For example, Don Rickles used to call people "hockey pucks", but does that usage change the definition? Of course not. Gunner means someone in a professional school who compromises interpersonal relationships to get ahead. This has been used correctly by thousands and thousands of people for over 40 years. A handful of premeds over the past decade or so have taken that pejorative term and thrown it around as a term of endearment -- "Oh you're such a gunner". But that is a bastardization of the term. It's like Republicans calling democrats "commies" or liberals calling republicans "fascist" or calling a heavy person a "cow". It's used as a colorful expression, but not really being used for the definition. And that's exactly what we have here -- people throwing around the word now and then without associating the actual definition. Doing that doesn't change the definition of the word, sorry. Doesn't really matter if YOU or ME thinks it makes more sense being a grade grubber term, that's simply not the definition. Premeds may misuse a term but that doesn't make the misuse a definition. So it doesn't matter if you disagree, I didn't make up the definition and your disagreement doesn't unmake the definition.