What is a Geek?
Geek is a popular slang term that has been around in some form for over a century. In the 1920s, a geek was a freak show performer that swallowed bugs and other animals. Today, the word generally has a more positive connotation, used to refer to someone who has a great deal of specialized knowledge in a “geeky” field, such as technology or science. Of course, bearing in mind that the writer of this article self-identifies as a geek and this website’s name is “WiseGEEK”, we’re going to focus on the bright side of the word. The word geek has different and blurred meanings, but there is certainly a center of gravity for the definitions. In its more general usage, a “geek” is anyone that knows a lot about a certain area that you don’t. For this reason, geeks are associated with knowledge, sometimes knowledge of Star Wars, comics, or anime. There are drama geeks, literature geeks, computer geeks, and so much more. If you think about it, the name of this site is quite fitting, because its ai
An interesting thought occurred to me today. People think of me as a geek, because I know more about computers than nearly anyone (at least that’s the common perception, not really true), and because I spend most of my time with them. I work at an Internet Service Proivider doing technical support; my job is to solve people’s problems when they can’t connect to the Internet. At home there are at least ten computers in the apartment, most of which are networked together and sharing an Internet connection. But the interesting thought that occurred to me is, I do exactly the same thing with computers that other people do with other things, like sports. Take baseball. At one level, you can occasionally watch a game on TV, possibly rooting for your home team (if you have a home team, and if they’re playing). If you’re inclined to do so, you can play – on a school team, or something like that. But, how many people have you met who truly immerse themselves in baseball? These are the people wh
(a subjective work in progress) c:\GEEK> n. Slang 1. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept. 2. A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy. 3. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken. c:\OPINION> This official defintion (found in most dictionaries) does not entirely describe the word “geek.” Whereas it may imply certain social deficiencies, I would say that a geek is a person who is talented in an area outside the boundaries of social normality. There are different kinds of geeks; band geeks, gaming geeks, literary geeks, film geeks, science geeks, computer geeks, etc. They generally have one thing in common, whether or not they are able to disguise it from the rest of the world. c:\NEW_DEFINITION> Geeks strive to prove their worth outside the definitions of mainstream. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, now has a thorough definition. Probably beca
