The word geek is a slang Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo . It is also used to identify with one's peers term, noting individuals as "One who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc."^[1] Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat, snake or bugs. The 1976 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is an American dictionary of the English language published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. Its creation was spurred by the controversy over the Webster's Third New International Dictionary included only the definition regarding geek shows Geek Shows were an act in traveling circuses of early America and were often part of a larger sideshow. The billed performer's act consisted of a single geek, who stood in center ring to chase live chickens. It ended with the performer biting the chicken's heads off and swallowing them.[dubious – discuss] The Geek Shows were often used as.

This word comes from English dialect geek, geck: fool, freak; from Low German geck, from Middle Low German. The root geck still survives in Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other and Afrikaans Elsewhere in Africa, notably Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland gek: crazy, and in the Alsatian Alsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area (8,280 km²), and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km² (total population in 2006: 1,815,488; January 1, 2008 estimate: 1 word Gickeleshut: geek's hat, used in carnivals.^[2]

Although often considered as a pejorative, the term is also often used self-referentially without malice- an example is the 'Geek Squad The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded on June 16, 1994 by Robert Stephens in Nelson, the company offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. The Geek Squad provides services in-store, on-site, and over the Internet via' of the Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada, China, Turkey and the United Kingdom. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates under both the Best Buy and Future Shop company.

Definitions

The definition of geek has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive meaning. The terms nerd Nerd is a term, often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who avidly pursues intellectual activities, technical or scientific endeavours, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests, rather than engaging in more social or conventional activities. The nerd may be awkward, shy and unattractive. Therefore, a, gimp, dweeb, dork, and spod have similar meanings as geek, but many choose to identify different connotations amongst these terms, although the differences are disputed. In a 2007 interview on The Colbert Report The Colbert Report is an American satirical late night television program that airs Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. It stars political humorist Stephen Colbert, a former correspondent for The Daily Show, Richard Clarke Richard Alan Clarke was a U.S. government employee for 30 years, 1973–2003. He worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Following the presidency of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton promoted Clarke to be the chief counter-terrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council. Under George W. Bush, Clarke no longer said the difference between nerds and geeks is "geeks get it done."^[3] Julie Smith defined a geek as "a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors, who thought of that secret, dreamy place his computer took him to as cyberspace—somewhere exciting, a place more real than his own life, a land he could conquer, not a drab teenager's room in his parents' house."^[4] "Geeks in suits clothing" is phrase which has been used for IT technical stars which also have knowledge about business needs.

Other definitions include:

• A derogatory reference to a person obsessed with intellectual pursuits for their own sake, who is also deficient in most other human attributes so as to impair the person's smooth operation within society.
• A person who is interested in technology Technology is a term referring to whatever can be said at any particular historical period, concerning the state of the art in the whole general field of practical know-how and tool use. It therefore encompasses all that can be said about arts, crafts, professions, applied sciences, and skills. By extension it can also refer to any systems or, especially computing Computing, also known as computer science, is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer technology, computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology. Computer science is the study and the science of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and new media New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of digital, computerized, or networked information and communication technologies in the later part of the 20th century. Most technologies described as "new media" are digital, often having characteristics of being manipulated, networkable, dense, compressible, interactive and. Geeks are adept with computers, and use the term hacker Today, mainstream usage mostly refers to computer criminals, due to the mass media usage of the word since the 1980s. This includes script kiddies, people breaking into computers using programs written by others, with very little knowledge about the way they work. This usage has become so predominant that a large segment of the general public is in a positive way, though not all are hackers themselves.
• A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus Multivariable calculus is the extension of calculus in one variable to calculus in several variables: the functions which are differentiated and integrated involve several variables rather than one variable to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
• A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who passionately pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
• A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream. This could be due to the intensity, depth, or subject of their interest. This definition is very broad but because many of these interests have mainstream endorsement and acceptance, the inclusion of some genres as "geeky" is heavily debated. Persons have been labeled as or chosen to identify as physics Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through space-time, as well as all applicable concepts, such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves geeks, mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns, formulate new conjectures, and establish truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions geeks, engineering Engineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention geeks, sci-fi Science fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature . Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a " geeks, computer A computer is a programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data//information, and provides output in a useful format geeks, various science Science is a systematic enterprise of gathering knowledge about nature and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories. As knowledge has increased, some methods have proved more reliable than others, and today the scientific method is the standard for science. It includes the use of careful observation, experimentation, geeks, movie A film, or movie or motion picture, is a story conveyed with moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry and film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a story conveyed with moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry geeks (cinephile), comic book A comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork in the form of separate "panels" that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book art form) as well as including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States of America in 1934, geeks, theater Theatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion. By this broad definition, theatre had existed since the dawn of man, as a geeks, history History is the study of the human past. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its geeks, music Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses." geeks, art Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics geeks, philosophy Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "philosophy" comes from the geeks, literature Literature,, is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means acquaintance with letters (as in the Arts and Letters"). In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and nonfiction geeks, historical reenactment Historical reenactment is a type of roleplay in which participants attempt to recreate some aspects of a historical event or period. This may be as narrow as a specific moment from a battle, such as the reenactment of Pickett's Charge at the Great Reunion of 1913, or as broad as an entire period geeks, 2012 The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012, which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae related to this date have been proposed, but none have geeks, video game A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to geeks, and roleplay geeks.
• A more recent school of thought sees nerd as being a derogatory phrase, whilst geek is simply a description^{[citation needed]}. It is taken to be someone who is an enthusiast, often in things outside of the mainstream spectrum. It may also describe immersion in a particular mainstream interest to an extreme that is beyond normalcy (e.g. sports A sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play.[note] It is governed by a set of rules or customs. In a sport the key factors are the physical capabilities and skills of the competitor when determining the outcome . The physical activity involves the movement of people, geek)^{[citation needed]}. Of note is that in this definition, there is no reference to being socially inept in the slightest.^{[citation needed]}

Reclamation and self-identification

Although being described as a geek tends to be an insult, the term has recently become more complimentary, or even a badge of honor, within particular fields. This is particularly evident in the technical disciplines, where the term is now often a compliment, denoting extraordinary skill. Nerd Pride Day Geek Pride Day is an initiative which claims the right of every person to be a nerd or a geek. It has been celebrated on May 25 since 2006, celebrating the premiere of the first Star Wars movie in 1977. It is on the same day as Towel Day has been observed on May 25 in Spain Spain (pronounced /ˈspeɪn/ spayn; Spanish: España, pronounced [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.[note 6] Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for since 2006 (May 25 being the world premiere date of Star Wars Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two sequels, released at three-year intervals. Sixteen years after the release of the trilogy's final film, the first in and also Towel Day Towel Day is celebrated every 25 May as a tribute by fans of the late author Douglas Adams. On this day, fans carry a towel with them to demonstrate their love for the books and the author, as referenced in Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on May 11, 2001). The holiday promotes the right to be nerdy or geeky, and to express it in public without shame. A new convention, Geek.Kon Geek.Kon is an anime, science fiction, and gaming convention in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, has sprung up in Madison, Wisconsin with a purpose to celebrate all things geek. The website BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek is a website that was founded in January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko as a resource for the board gaming hobby. The database holds reviews, articles, and session reports for over 30,000 different games, expansions, and designers. BoardGameGeek includes card games and other tabletop games, as well as wargames and German-style is an online community of boardgamers who identify themselves as geeks at game conventions; they call their website "The Geek," for short. Technical support services such as Geek Squad The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded on June 16, 1994 by Robert Stephens in Nelson, the company offers various computer-related services and accessories for residential and commercial clients. The Geek Squad provides services in-store, on-site, and over the Internet via, Geeks on Call and Dial-a-Geek use the term geek to signify helpful technical abilities. In recent history, some geeks have cultivated a geek culture, such as geek humor Geek humor is a rather diverse comical field, probably due to its wide definition. A geek can be considered a person who is preoccupied with a detailed or obscure area of knowledge or interest and obscure references on t-shirts. The so-called geek chic trend is a deliberate affectation of geek or nerd traits as a fashion statement. Nonetheless, the derogatory definition of geeks remains that of a person engrossed in his area of interest at the cost of social skills, personal hygiene, and status.

There has been criticism over the widespread appropriation of the terms "geek" and "nerd" as self descriptors, especially by individuals who would have most likely not been described as such under the traditional stereotype. Along with efforts to de-emphasize the negative social aspects, in recent years there have been arguments for de-emphasizing the necessity for having noticeably exceptional levels of intelligence or technical aptitude. This has resulted in the desire to redefine the term geek rather as any person who pursues a passionate interest in anything regardless of genre, is creative, and individualistic. Arguments against the revisionist definitions, however, state that it is not only unneccasary, but it completely contradicts the traditional accepted definition of the terms which distinctly refer to persons who are noticeably above average intelligence, usually more adept in technically demanding fields, and socially awkward or alienated to some degree.

Geek chic

"Geek chic" refers to the embracing of stereotypically unpopular "geek" characteristics such as (taped) glasses Glasses are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, normally for vision correction, eye protection, or for protection from UV rays, comic books A comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork in the form of separate "panels" that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book art form) as well as including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States of America in 1934,, and video games A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to.^{[citation needed]}

It is highly debatable whether this trend actually means that "real geeks" are more popular than they were previously, or if it merely represents a superficial addition of "nerdy" elements to current fashion trends. Many elements that arguably define "geekiness", such as varying degrees of social awkwardness, mathematical ability, strong interest in science and/or science fiction and fantasy, and varying degrees of disinterest in one's personal appearance, remain unfashionable.^{[citation needed]} Similar trends have often occurred in the past; for example, French Orientalism and exoticism of the 19th century incorporated visual elements from Asian and African cultures, but did not necessarily imply that people from these cultures were themselves viewed as fashionable.^{[citation needed]}

Some agree that the concept was born in the mid 1990s; there is no consensus as to who originated it and where. It is often assumed that it was created by "real geeks" in an attempt to suppress their widely perceived public image as dull, introverted, and academic.^{[citation needed]} However, there is a noticeable lack of prominent representatives in science and other geek-oriented professions who visibly sport geek chic images. Most, if not all, celebrity exponents of geek chic have emerged from the entertainment field. Actor David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, has described the look of his character as geek chic.^[5].

Other people believe that geek chic has become a trend because or the glamorization of "geek culture" in the 2000s decade, such as the use of computers, video game culture, the internet, anime, Superhero films, fantasy novels, along with the high income of so-called "geeky" jobs such as Information Technology. Also, eccentricity has become more popular due to recent youth culture backlash against concepts such as conservatism, yuppie culture, traditional gender roles, elitism, and conformity in general.^{[citation needed]}

Aside from (taped) eyeglasses, it is also debatable as to whether the geek chic fashion actually borrows at all from the stereotypical geek image which is based on lack of fashion sense, or more specifically an overtly studious, academic appearance, hence the so-called "Poindexter" look.^{[citation needed]} Geek chic is not to be confused with preppie fashion which is more widely associated with a conservative image rather than geek culture. Instead, much of the geek chic image borrows from various alternative youth fashions such as emo, goth, hippie, and bohemian amongst others.^{[citation needed]} Then again, t-shirts with computer programming in-jokes seems to originate from the widespread Hollywood depiction of Silicon Valley employees and other computer geeks. This exaggeration is based on the more casual dress code in place in many such companies although in reality, this is still mostly limited to business-appropriate attire.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Anorak and Boffin, British slang for "geek"
• Akiba-kei and Otaku, Japanese slang for "geek"
• Asperger syndrome - Note that contrary to some inaccurate accounts in popular media, most geeks do not have Asperger syndrome, although a minority do.
• Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
• Cracker (computing)
• Hacker (computing)
• Gaekwad (commonly confused term)
• Geek Code
• Geek rock
• Geekcorps
• Nerd
• Social anxiety
• Technosexual
• Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook
• Girl Geek Dinners

References

1. ^ "Dictionary: Geek". Dictionary.com-Merriam-Webster entry. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/geek. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
2. ^ French Wikipedia Geek Article
3. ^ The Colbert Report - 2007 Archive - 1/17/07 - Television - SPIKE Powered By IFILM
4. ^ Reconstruction 6.1 (Winter 2006)
5. ^ BBC's Doctor Who News: Filming starts.

External links

• The Geek Test
• Geek Culture: The Third Counter-Culture, an article discussing geek culture as a new kind of counter-culture.
• "Geek Chic", USA Today, October 22, 2003
• "Suddenly, It's Hip to be Square", Associated Press, July 18, 2005
• "How Geek Chic Works"
• Nerd Project at the Wikiversity

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