The word geek is a slang Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially 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 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 (third most densely populated region in metropolitan France), with 222 inhabitants per km² (total population in January 2008: 1,836,000). Alsace is located on word Gickeleshut: geek's hat, used in carnivals^[2].

Definitions

The definition of geek has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive meaning. The terms nerd Nerd [nɚd] is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers or, 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 a Peabody and Emmy award-winning American satirical television program that airs Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States and on both The Comedy Network and CTV in Canada. 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 President George W. Bush Clarke no 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]

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 operation within society.
• A person who is interested in technology Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. Technology is a term with origins in the Greek "technologia", "τεχνολογία" — "techne", "τέχνη" and &, especially computing Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing 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 application in computer and new media Categories: Digital media | Media by format | Interactive Art . 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 is so much predominant in the general public that a large segment of it 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 one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy. Over the last two millennia, physics had been considered synonymous with philosophy, chemistry, and certain branches of mathematics and biology, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 16th century, it emerged to become a unique modern geeks, mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, relation, change, and various topics of pattern, form and entity. Mathematicians seek out patterns and other quantitative dimensions, whether dealing with numbers, spaces, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or other entities. Mathematicians formulate new conjectures and geeks, engineering Engineering is the discipline and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge in order to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective. The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development has defined engineering as geeks, sci-fi Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, magazines, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media. In organizational or marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction, geeks, computer A computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions geeks, various science Science refers to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome. In this sense, science may refer to a highly skilled technique or practice geeks, movie Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects and film Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects geeks (cinephile), comic book A comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, virtually always accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book artform) and often including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1934, reprinting the earlier newspaper comic strips, which established many of the story geeks, theatre Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more persons, isolated in time and/or space, present themselves to another or others." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for storytelling. Since its inception, theatre has geeks, history History is the study of the past, with special attention to the written record of the activities of human beings over time. 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 often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause geeks, music Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. 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 that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics geeks, philosophy Most academic subjects have a philosophy, for example the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of law, and the philosophy of history. In addition, a range of academic subjects have emerged to deal with areas which would have historically been the subject of philosophy. These include geeks, literature Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters (as in the phrase "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 and roleplay geeks.
• A more recent school of thought sees Nerd as being a derogatory phrase, whilst Geek is simply a description. It is taken to be someone who is an enthusiast, often in things outside of the mainstream spectrum, of note is that in this definition, there is no reference to being socially inept in the slightest.

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 This day is celebrated on May 25 since 2006, celebrating the premiere of the first Star Wars movie in 1977 has been observed on May 25 May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 220 days remaining until the end of the year in Spain Spain /ˈspeɪn/ (Spanish: España (help·info), Spanish pronunciation: [esˈpaɲa]) or the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country 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 a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north since 2006. (May 25 being the world premiere date of Star Wars Star Wars is an epic space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels. It was originally released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture and also Towel Day Towel Day is celebrated every May 25 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. The commemoration was first held in 2001, two weeks after Adams' death on May 11, 2001. The towel is a reference to Adams's popular science fiction comedy i.e. Birthday of Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams was an English author, dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker's began on radio, and developed into a "trilogy" of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a comic book series,) 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. The convention is organized by the Geek.Kon planning committee, 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 in 1994 by Robert Stephens, 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 remote access, and, 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 The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc." Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the 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.

Geek chic

"Geek chic" refers to the embracing of stereotypically unpopular "geek" characteristics such as 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, virtually always accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book artform) and often including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1934, reprinting the earlier newspaper comic strips, which established many of the story, and computer games A personal computer game is a game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine. Computer games have evolved from the simple graphics and gameplay of early titles like Spacewar!, to a wide range of more visually advanced titles.

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 Nerd [nɚd] is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities[citation needed], esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity[citation needed]" elements to current fashion trends. Many elements that arguably define "geekiness", such as varying degrees of social awkwardness, mathematical ability, strong interest in science Science refers to any systematic knowledge-base or prescriptive practice that is capable of resulting in a prediction or predictable type of outcome. In this sense, science may refer to a highly skilled technique or practice and/or science fiction Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, magazines, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media. In organizational or marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction, and fantasy Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting. Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three, and varying degrees of disinterest in one's personal appearance Variations in the physical appearance of humans, known as human looks, are believed by anthropologists to be an important factor in the development of personality and social relations in particular physical attractiveness. There is a relatively low sexual dimorphism between human males and females in comparison with other mammals. However humans, remain unfashionable^{[citation needed]}. Similar trends have often occurred in the past; for example, French France ( /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, French pronunciation: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Orientalism Orientalism refers to the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists. An "Orientalist" may be a person engaged in these activities, but it is also the traditional term for any scholar of Oriental studies. Orientalism was more widely used in art history referring mostly to the works and exoticism Exoticism is a trend in art and design, influenced by some ethnic groups or civilizations since the late 19th-century. In music exoticism is a genre in which the rhythms, melodies, or instrumentation are designed to evoke the atmosphere of far-off lands or ancient times (e.g. Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé and Tzigane for Violin and Orchestra, Debussy' 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.

Some^[who?] agree that the concept was born sometime during 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. 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 David Tennant is a Scottish actor. Already a well-known theatre actor, Tennant achieved wider fame for his TV role as the Tenth Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who as well as in Casanova and Einstein and Eddington, and his film role as Barty Crouch, Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is the tenth incarnation of the fictional character known as the Doctor seen on screen in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who. He is played by David Tennant, who replaced Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the 2005 series finale, "The Parting of the Ways". Tennant has appeared in three in Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box. With his companions, he explores time, has described the look of his character as geek chic.^[5]

Aside from 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 Poindexter is an American surname descended from the Poingdestre family of Jersey. In its original form, the name means 'right fist'" look. Instead, much of the geek chic image borrows from various alternative youth fashions such as emo Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the more aggressive subgenre "screamo". In recent years the term "emo" has been applied by critics and journalists to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts such, goth The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify. Its imagery and cultural proclivities indicate, hippie The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe people who created their own communities, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as cannabis and, and bohemian The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalised and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or antiestablishment political or social viewpoints, which were amongst others. Although, t-shirts with computer programming in-jokes seems to originate from the widespread Hollywood depiction of Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, United States. The term originally referred to the region's large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually came to refer to all the high-tech businesses in the area; it is now generally used as a metonym for the high-tech sector 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]}.

Geeks in popular culture

• In 2005 and 2006, the former WB Television Network The WB Television Network, or simply The WB, was a television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture of Tribune Broadcasting and Warner Bros. As a replacement, on January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced plans to launch The CW Television Network in the fall of 2006 (now The CW The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network (UPN), and Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB (Warner Brothers) Television Network (a network that has since) ran a reality game show called Beauty and the Geek Beauty and the Geek is a reality television series on The CW. It has been advertised as "The Ultimate Social Experiment" and is produced by Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg and Nick Santora, where "geeks" try to share their knowledge with "beauties" while trying to learn a modern style from them. The show is currently in its fifth season.
• Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries predominantly comedy programming, both original and syndicated. Since late 2006, local versions of Comedy Central have launched in the European market including in Sweden , Poland (Comedy Central Polska), Germany (Comedy Central Deutschland), the ran a game show named Beat the Geeks Beat the Geeks was a comedy game show which aired on Comedy Central in the United States from 2001 to 2002. The show was rerun on The Comedy Network in Canada and reruns currently air on G4techTV Canada and Prime in New Zealand from 2001 to 2002. It featured contestants competing against a movie Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects geek, television Commercially available since the late 1930s, the television set has become a common communications receiver in homes, businesses and institutions, particularly as a source of entertainment and news. Since the 1970s the availability of video cassettes, laserdiscs, DVDs and now Blu-ray discs, have resulted in the television set frequently being used geek, and a music Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. 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" geek, along with a special fourth geek. The fourth geek would have a certain area of expertise such as Star Wars Star Wars is an epic space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels. It was originally released on May 25, 1977 by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture, The Simpsons The Simpsons is an American animated television sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and lampoons, horror Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain, Star Trek Star Trek is an American science fiction show, science fiction entertainment series, and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional multiverse created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, and eleven feature films. The franchise also extends to dozens of computer and video games, hundreds, and comic books A comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, virtually always accompanied by dialog (usually in word balloons, emblematic of the comic book artform) and often including brief descriptive prose. The first comic book appeared in the United States in 1934, reprinting the earlier newspaper comic strips, which established many of the story.
• The IT Crowd The IT Crowd is a British sitcom, written by Graham Linehan and produced by Ash Atalla for Channel 4. The series has won BAFTA and International Emmy awards, produced by Channel 4 Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began transmissions on 2 November 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel Four Television Corporation, a public body established in 1, focuses on the shenanigans of a three-person IT Information technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to support team located in a dingy, untidy and unkempt basement. Moss and Roy, the two technicians, are portrayed as socially inept geeks, while Jen, the newest member of the team, is hopelessly non-technical.
• The show Freaks and Geeks Freaks and Geeks is an American comedy-drama television series, created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. Eighteen episodes were completed, but the series was canceled after only twelve had aired explores the social conundrum of new students adapting to existing social norms. Geeks were shown to be interested in Star Wars, Star Trek, Dungeons and Dragons, Saturday Night Live and related actors, Monty Python, AV club and Atari. Members of their group acknowledged being different from others for their interests, looks, intelligence and lack of social skills.
• Planet Nerd Planet Nerd is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne. It stars local Melbourne comedians Dan Walmsley, Paul Francis Verhoeven, Ben McKenzie, Simon Barber, Jason English-Rees, Andrew Doodson, Lou Pardi, and Rob Lloyd, and features other local Melbourne talent as well. Segments from the program are uploaded to is a variety show for and about nerds and geeks.
• Nerdapalooza Nerdapalooza is a nerd music festival. The first of its kind to invite all genres of the new movement under one roof, Nerdapalooza was scheduled to have its first two day festival in September 2007 at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds. Due to funding issues it has since been pushed back to a later date. The creator of the event is John "hex" is a planned geek music festival.
• Geek Monthly is a recently launched lifestyle magazine, published twelve times a year in the United States of America The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the by CFQ Media. The magazine is positioned in the marketplace as a more "fanboy A fan, aficionado, or supporter is someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking and enthusiasm for a sporting club, person , group of persons, company, product, activity, work of art, idea, or trend. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They often show their enthusiasm by starting a fan club," version of established magazines such as Wired Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since March 1993, that reports on how technology affects culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is published in San Francisco, California and EW as well as the discontinued Gear Gear was an English language lad's mag published by son-of-Penthouse Bob Guccione, Jr. in the United Kingdom devoted chiefly to revealing pictorials of popular singers, B-movie actresses, and models, along with articles on gadgets, cars, fashion, guy tales of sex, and sports. The first issue featured Rainn Wilson Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor. He is known for his roles as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American television comedy The Office, the leading role in the 2008 comedy The Rocker, and assistant mortician Arthur Martin in HBO's Six Feet Under on the cover in a James Bond James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr. No pose, whilst features included that of Sci-Fi Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, magazines, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media. In organizational or marketing contexts, science fiction can be synonymous with the broader definition of speculative fiction,, Lifestyle and Woody Allen Woody Allen is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, writer, musician and playwright.
• The TV show The Big Bang Theory It concerns two male Caltech prodigies in their twenties, one an experimental physicist and the other a theoretical physicist (Sheldon), who live across the hall from an attractive blonde waitress with show-biz aspirations (Penny) on CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network or more simply The Eye, in reference to the shape of the company's logo. It has also been called the Tiffany Network, which alludes to the is about two socially inept prodigies in their 20s who are living across the hall from a beautiful girl with a more conventional intellect. The male characters are consciously modelled around an extreme caricature Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines of the geek/nerd stereotype A stereotype is a phrase relating to all the members of class or set. The term is often used with a negative connotation when referring to an oversimplified, with the class due to his or her membership in it. Stereotypes can be used to deny individuals respect or legitimacy based on their membership in that group, and mainly as physics Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy. Over the last two millennia, physics had been considered synonymous with philosophy, chemistry, and certain branches of mathematics and biology, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 16th century, it emerged to become a unique modern geeks (with references to laboratory work, lasers Lasers is the title of the future third studio album by Hip-Hop musician Lupe Fiasco. His plans are to release the album sometime in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2009, and academia). There is a dispute over if they are nerds Nerd [nɚd] is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers or, geeks, or both.
• The William Lindsay Gresham William Lindsay Gresham was an American novelist and non-fiction author particularly regarded among readers of noir. His best-known work is Nightmare Alley (1946), which was adapted into a 1947 film starring Tyrone Power novel Nightmare Alley Nightmare Alley is a novel by William Lindsay Gresham. It is a study of the lowest depths of showbiz and its sleazy inhabitants- the dark, shadowy world of a second rate carnival filled with hustlers, scheming grifters, and Machiavellian femme fatales filmed with Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited simply as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as "Ty Power", was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, The Black Rose, begins and ends with a carnival geek.
• Robert Lanham, author of 'The Hipster Handbook' -- see chapter on "The Loner" -- a.k.a "The Garofalo" in Playboy -- as in Janeane Garofalo -- & 'Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees & Other Creatures Unique to the Republic')
• Professional wrestler Freddie Blassie coined the "pencil-neck geek" catchphrase early in his career to describe a fellow carnival performer. He also lent his voice to a comedy novelty song by the same name in 1975, commonly featured the Dr. Demento Radio Show.
• Geeks! - A social networking site hosted by Chris Pirillo, aimed at geeks.

See also

• Anorak (slang)
• Blogger
• Boffin
• Cracker (computing)
• Geek Code
• Geek rock
• Geekcorps
• Geekism
• Nerd
• Otaku
• Programmer
• Scientist
• Social anxiety
• Technosexual
• Akiba-kei
• Robert Lanham, author of 'The Hipster Handbook'
• Chris Pirillo

References

1. ^ "Dictionary: Geek". Dictionary.com-Merriam-Webster entry. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/geek. Retrieved on 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
• Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter-Culture
• "Geek Chic"
• Nerd Project at the Wikiversity.

Categories: Slang expressions | History of subcultures | Computing culture | Internet culture | Fashion aesthetics | 2000s fashion | Pejorative terms for people | Reclaimed words

See Also:

• Geek
• Geeky
• Geeks
• Geekly
• Geeked

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