A coworker mentions that her husband watches baseball. Your husband watches baseball too. He's super interested in baseball, but you don't care much about it. You say:
My husband is a total baseball freak.
a total (something)
"Total" means "complete" or "100%". Use it to talk about a characteristic that a person has a lot of. Some examples of using "total" to talk about people include:
We were total strangers at that point.
You'd be a total fool to turn this down.
a (something) freak
Call someone "a ___ freak" if they're really interested in a specific topic. Some examples include:
I admit that I used to be somewhat of a comic book freak back then.
Since when did you become such a cooking freak?
When you call someone "a ___ freak", it means that you think they spend too much time thinking about that topic. The word "freak" has a negative meaning; it means someone who is not normal and has a strange appearance or personality. However, "a ___ freak" doesn't sound that negative. It makes people think of someone who is really into a hobby.
You can also call someone "a ___ nerd":
She's such a music nerd.
But "a ___ freak" is someone who's really emotionally involved in their hobby. "A ___ nerd" is someone who knows a lot about their topic, but may not be as energetic as "a ___ freak".
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