Ah! That is a perfect word! I don't know where I first heard of maven as denigrating here in the US. The phrase "media maven" sticks in my head...since we've been in broadcast for upteen years, maybe I heard it there...it brings to mind a person who is almost obsessed with being in the thick of things and being *seen*, i.e. socialite tendencies. Oh, hell, I dunno, I guess really it has all kinds of connotations, good and bad.