FLAKE NOUN (PEOPLE AND SOCIETY)

In US slang: an eccentric, dim, or unreliable person, a 'screwball'. Etymology: A back-formation from the adjective flaky, which in US slang has been used in the sense 'odd, eccentric, unpredictable' since the mid sixties. History and Usage: Flake was first used in US baseball slang and in college slang generally in the sixties; during the seventies it passed into general slang use in the US, and by the early eighties was becoming more widely known still through its use in political contexts (compare wimp°). Out in California, Gov. Jerry Brown--often called a flake--was campaigning against San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson...Larry Liebert...quoted an anonymous Brown aide as asking 'Why trade a flake for a wimp.' New York Times Magazine 24 Oct. 1982, p. 16