The word "maverick" is much in play theses days. Some promote it as equal to "hero" and "independent thinker".
But there are other meanings to the word, a darker side if you will. Maybe the word's real meaning is closer to "loose cannon."
Daily Kos diarists are folks who care about the meaning of words, we like to say what we mean. Those of us who are parents teach our kids not fall for the advertiser's trick of getting us to associate a word with a lifestyle or a product to buy or a person to follow. So let's probe this word....
Below the break: what I learned when I did an internet search.
Here's the how the word orginially came into our language - from a vocabulary blog -
Maverick :Samuel A. Maverick was a Texan rancher of the 1840’s who did not bother to brand his calves (which was an important practice followed by the community). At first the word Maverick was only used for unbranded Calves then the meaning was extended to apply one who doesn’t follow the common herd , somebody different and a little far from the crowd of rule followers.
Writers have found mavericks to be appealing characters for story telling and thus "Maverick" became both a 1950s TV series on ABC and a 1994 movie - a popular comedy western that was nominated for an Academy Award. I also found a bunch of music albums and singles with the word as a title. Generally the association is "bad boy."
So in pop culture, the maverick has come to mean "a gambler." The word even has a special meaning in the game of poker - when you have a queen and jack in the pocket, you have a "maverick."
There's an odd cluster of products with the name "maverick." Check out this link:
roller coaster
magazine
candy bar
video game
comic book
automobile
cigarette
record label
lacrosse equipment
gun
sports teams
computing products
music groups
And now we have a maverick/rebel/gambler as candidate for president. Not a good thing.