Re: Define [steam/diesel/whatever] - punk?
It only meant what punk meant in the early 80s, counter-culture, fashion, music.
It later became far too over-analyzed and today has been transformed into something so broad it begins to lack definition.
If you want the purest interpretation, just wiki the word punk. That is what it meant to the earliest Cyberpunk writers. The dystopic additions are more an effect of the blending with the cyber part than the intrinsic meaning of punk. (especially the blade runner effect and the noir/hardboiled detective elements.)
So, in the purest sense Steampunk is Victorians running around listening to black flag, sporting a blue spiked mohawk and bitching about how the other bands are selling out.
What people mean when they say Steampunk would be expressed better as Steamnoir, but then it never plays that way does it? It usually plays more like SteamVerne... ne?