看来又是美国梗
TIME应该是美国杂志吧？
那么使用一些美国俚语也是有可能
来看看这个http://grammarist.com/words/wonkish-wonky/
Wonkish, wonky
The adjective wonky has two unrelated senses that are both used throughout the English-speaking world. Its older and more commonly used definition is unstable, defective, unreliable, or wobbly. For instance, a bad knee or a table with loose fittings might be called wonky, as might a person who behaves unpredictably. The word’s second sense is studiously concerned with minutiae. It connotes the kind of expertise that only a long-time insider within a given field can have, and it often comes up in
politics, where a wonky person is one who is immersed in the details of policy.
这一段就是一般的解释：摇摇欲坠、不稳定的etc.
那这一段呢？
Wonky in its second sense comes from the slightly older noun wonk, which emerged in the United States in the late 20th century as slang for a studious person concerned with minutiae.
Wonky的第二种意涵来自一个比较老的名词wonk，是美国在20世纪末诞生的俚语，指专心在一些琐事上面的好学者
翻译成学院派其实才正确吧？