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, gaming, etc. Slang is the use of highly informal Words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's Dialect or Language. "^[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 included only the definition regarding geek shows. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ( AHD) is an American Dictionary of the English language published by Geek Shows were an act in traveling Circuses of early America and were often part of a larger Sideshow.

This word comes from English dialect geek, geck: fool, freak; from Low German geck, from Middle Low German. In contemporary usage the word freak is usually used to refer to a person with something unusual about their appearance or behaviour The root geck still survives in Dutch gek: crazy, and in the Alsatian word Gickeleshut: geek's hat, used in carnivals^[2]. Alsace (Alsace alzas Alsatian and Elsass pre-1996 German: Elsaß; Alsatia is one of the 26 Regions of France, located on the eastern

Contents 1 Definitions 2 Reclaiming and self-identification 3 Geeks in popular culture 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

Definitions

The definition of geek has changed considerably over time, and there is no longer a definitive meaning. The terms nerd and dork have similar meanings as geek, but many choose to identify different connotations amongst the three terms, although the differences are disputed. Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or Stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues Intellectual activities Esoteric In a 2007 interview on The Colbert Report, Richard Clarke said the difference between nerds and geeks is "geeks get it done". The Colbert Report (/kolˈbɛr rəˈpɔr/&mdashthe t is silent in "Colbert" is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award winning American ^[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 person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt Computing is usually defined like the activity of using and developing Computer technology Computer hardware and software. New media is a term meant to encompass the emergence of Digital, Computerized or Networked information and communication technologies Geeks are adept with computers, and treat the term hacker as a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves.
• A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake. Multivariable calculus is the extension of Calculus in one Variable to calculus in several variables the functions which are differentiated and integrated involve
• A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who 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 geeks, mathematics geeks, engineering geeks, sci-fi geeks, computer geeks, various science geeks, movie and film geeks (cinephile), comic book geeks, theatre geeks, history geeks, music geeks, art geeks, philosophy geeks, literature geeks, and roleplay geeks. Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and Engineering is the Discipline and Profession of applying technical and scientific Knowledge and A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. Art refers to a diverse range of Human activities creations and expressions that are appealing to the Senses or Emotions of a human individual Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter In roleplaying, participants adopt and act out the Role of characters, or parts that may have personalities motivations and backgrounds different from

Reclaiming 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 has been observed on May 25 in Spain since 2006. Nerd Pride Day, or Geek Pride Day, is an initiative which claims the right of every person to be a Nerd or a Geek. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The holiday promotes the right to be nerdy or geeky, and to express it in public without shame. A new convention, Geek.Kon, has sprung up in Madison, Wisconsin with a purpose to celebrate all things geek. GeekKon is an Anime, Science fiction, and gaming convention in Madison Wisconsin, United States. The website BoardGameGeek is an online community of boardgamers who identify themselves as geeks at game conventions; they call their website "The Geek", for short. BoardGameGeek is a Website that was founded in January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko as a resource for the board gaming Hobby. Technical support services such as Geek Squad and Dial-a-Geek use the term geek to signify helpful technical abilities. The Geek Squad is a subsidiary of the Best Buy Company and is based in Richfield Minnesota. In recent history, some geeks have cultivated a geek culture, such as geek humor and obscure references on T-shirts. Geek humor is a rather diverse comical field probably due to its wide definition 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.

Geeks in popular culture

• In 2005 and 2006, the former WB Television Network (now The CW) ran a reality game show called Beauty and the Geek, where "geeks" try to share their knowledge with "beauties" while trying to learn a modern style from them. The CW Television Network ( The CW) is a Television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006-2007 television season. Beauty and the Geek is a Reality television series on The CW. The show is currently in its fifth season.
• Comedy Central ran a game show named Beat the Geeks from 2001 to 2002. Comedy Central is an American Cable television and Satellite television channel that carries predominantly Comedy programming Beat the Geeks was a Comedy Game show which aired on Comedy Central in the United States from 2001 to 2002. It featured contestants competing against a movie geek, television geek, and a music geek, along with a special fourth geek. Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. The fourth geek would have a certain area of expertise such as Star Wars, The Simpsons, horror, Star Trek, and comic books. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers A comic book (often shortened to simply comic and sometimes called a comic paper or comic magazine) is a Magazine or Book of narrative
• The IT Crowd, produced by Channel 4, focuses on the shenanigans of a three-person IT support team located in a dingy, untidy and unkempt basement. The IT Crowd (ˈɪt or ˌaɪˈtiː is a British Sitcom written by Irish director Graham Linehan and produced by Ash Atalla Channel 4 is a public-service Television and Radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom centred around a television channel of the same name which began Information technology ( IT) as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA is "the study design development implementation support 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 explores the social conundrum of new students adapting to existing social norms. Freaks and Geeks is an American Television series, created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on 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 is a variety show for and about nerds and geeks. Planet Nerd is a television comedy variety programme broadcast on Channel 31 Melbourne.
• Nerdapalooza is a planned geek music festival. 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
• Geek Monthly is a recently launched lifestyle magazine, to be published six times a year in the United States of America by CFQ Media. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The magazine is positioned in the marketplace as a more "fanboy" version of established magazines such as Wired and EW as well as the discontinued Gear. Fanboy is a term used to describe any individual who is devoted to a single subject in an emotional or fanatical manner or to a single point of view within that subject often to Wired is a full-color monthly American Magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993 Gear was an English language lad's mag published by son-of- Penthouse Bob Guccione Jr The first issue featured Rainn Wilson on the cover in a James Bond pose, whilst features included that of Sci-Fi, Lifestyle and Woody Allen. Rainn Dietrich Wilson (born January 20 1966) is an Emmy -nominated and Screen Actors Guild Award -winning American actor James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1 1935 is an American Film director, Writer, Actor, Comedian, and
• The TV show The Big Bang Theory on CBS 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 Big Bang Theory is an American Situation comedy created and executive produced by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, which premiered CBS Broadcasting Inc ( CBS) is an American radio and Television network. The male characters are consciously modelled around an extreme caricature of the geek/nerd stereotype, and mainly as physics geeks (with references to laboratory work, lasers, and academia). A caricature is either a Portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness or in literature a description A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group Physics (Greek Physis - φύσις in everyday terms is the Science of Matter and its motion. A laser is a device that emits Light ( Electromagnetic radiation) through a process called Stimulated emission. There is a dispute over if they are nerds, geeks, or both. Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or Stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues Intellectual activities Esoteric
• The William Lindsay Gresham novel Nightmare Alley filmed with Tyrone Power begins and ends with a carnival geek. William Lindsay Gresham ( August 20, 1909 &ndash September 14, 1962) was an American Novelist and Non-fiction 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 Tyrone Edmund Power Jr (May 5 1914 – November 15 1958 usually credited simply as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as " Ty Power " was an
• Robert Lanham, author of 'The Hipster Handbook' -- see chapter on "The Loner" -- a. Robert Lanham (born 1971 in Richmond Virginia) is the author of the satiric books The Hipster Handbook, Food Court k. a "The Garofalo" in Playboy -- as in Janeane Garofalo -- & 'Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees & Other Creatures Unique to the Republic')

References

1. ^ Dictionary: Geek. Dictionary. com-Merriam-Webster entry. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon.
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)

See also

• Anorak (slang)
• Blogger
• Boffin
• Cracker (computing)
• Geek Code
• Geek rock
• Geekcorps
• Geekism
• LARP
• Nerd
• Otaku
• Programmer
• Scientist
• Social anxiety
• Technosexual

External links

• The Geek Test
• Geek Culture: The Third Counter-Culture, an article discussing geek culture as a new kind of counter-culture. In British Slang an anorak is a person typically a man who has unfathomable interest in arcane detailed information regarded as boring by the rest of the population A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of In the Slang of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, boffins are scientists, Engineers A black hat is the Villain or bad guy, especially in a western movie in which such a character would wear a black Hat in contrast to the The Geek Code is a series of letters and symbols used by self-described " Geeks quot to inform fellow geeks about their personality, appearance interests and Geek Rock (also known as nerd rock, but distinguishable from the Hip hop genre Nerdcore) is a musical subgenre of Alternative rock, although Geekcorps is a Non-profit organization that sends people with technical skills to developing countries to assist in Computer Infrastructure development A Geekism is any Word, Phrase, Joke, or other part of Language that is related to computers or any Computer terminology A live action role-playing game ( LARP) is a form of Role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or Stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues Intellectual activities Esoteric is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests particularly Anime, Manga, and Video games. A programmer is someone who writes Computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist A scientist, in the broadest sense refers to any person that engages in a systematic activity to acquire Knowledge or an individual that engages in such practices Social Phobia Social anxiety is a term used to describe an experience of Anxiety ( Emotional discomfort Fear, apprehension or Worry Technosexual is a term used to describe an individual in one of two ways A person (usually a male with a strong Aesthetic sense and a love of Gadgets

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