What the devil is a "gnostic atheist"?

[Hughsie]

Thanks for the education, we all learn something new every day. With a bit of googling I can find plenty of recent usage but not sure when the term was coined, and so far haven't found people like Hitchens or Dawkins having used it.

I wish people didn't use it but that's not a battle I can win.
a) it's a real shame many atheists do not appear to be aware of Gnosticism as in the "gnostic church", and the confusion the term brings
b) it's a real shame modern atheists start adopting antiquated / overly academic terminology. I like to think atheists have the advantage in intellectual debate at least with the majority of theist arguments, but using this term is atheism disappearing up its own arse
c) what's wrong with just calling the position "Atheist"?*



* I'm one of the many technically "agnostic atheists" but prefer simply "atheist". "Radical atheist" in my bio is a joke and in homage to Douglas Adams.

I prefer to call myself an agnostic atheist than just atheist. Atheist implies that I'm as certain of my position as theists are of theirs and I would never want to appear that close minded.