Geek – New Race of People

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A few days ago I came across an interesting article. It talks about how the U.N. or United Nations has recently added “geek” as a new race of people on earth. With that, the terms “noob”*, “nerd” & “retard” are now considered as a racist terms. What is a geek? How is one considered a geek? First, let us define the words race and geek.

race – family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock; a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics (the English race).
via Merriam-Webster

geek – 1. a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake;
2. a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked; 3. an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity (computer geek).
via Merriam-Webster

Unlike “nerd”, which is commonly used as a derogatory word, “geek” implies a positive meaning when used by a person within the group. Nowadays, being called a geek has a more positive meaning as people usually associate it with superior intelligence or use it to refer to a person who is an expert in a certain field.

Geeks like many other races, have their own symbols, codes and lingo. Here are a few examples:

Egosurfing: Scanning the Net, databases, etc., for one’s own name.

Flame: to insult someone. Used when a person asks a stupid question, or says something rude to irritate the users of a chat room or message board.

Raster burn: Eyestrain brought on by too many hours of looking at low-res, poorly tuned or glare-ridden monitors, esp. graphics monitors.

Vulcan nerve pinch: The keyboard combination that forces a soft-boot or jump to ROM monitor (on machines that support such a feature). On many micros this is Ctrl-Alt-Del; on Suns, L1-A; on some Macintoshes, it is ! Also called the “three-finger salute.”

In this age of information, the term “geek” is closely associated with technology and computers especially with the boom of the World Wide Web. Some of the most richest people in the world are geeks with the likes of Bill Gates of Microsoft, Sergey Brin of Google and Pierre Omidyar of eBay.

Are you a geek? Would you like to be called one? Would you like to be a member of the geek race? If you ask me, I won’t mind if I’m successful and making a lot of money like the guys mentioned above. Hehe :D

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12 Comments

  1. @max – Those are really good definitions for both terms. Nerds are usually discriminated because of being anti-social. Just because other people are annoying doesn’t mean you have to be anti-social, right? From the sound of it, I think you consider yourself a nerd.

    @benj – Hehe, is it too obvious? Maybe because I’m a self-proclaimed geek? LOL

    @trench – Same here. :D

  2. sa akong pagsabot ..

    geek is someone who is unreasonably passionate about a particular thing, genre, hobby, or topic. examples a blog geek. or a dungeons and dragons geek.

    nerd is someone who is anti-social. i do not find anything negative about it. since other people usually ARE annoying .. id rather spend precious time by myself

    ;p

  3. @Joni – Hehe..don’t worry, people nowadays use the term “geek” mostly for persons who are into technology and not the carnival performers. :D

    @baddie – That’s cool! I like reading comic books but I’m not into collecting it. :)

    @benj – Is that so? I don’t think all geeks are sell-outs. :D

  4. I don't mind being called a 'computer geek.' Just don't call me a 'geek' which is another word for a "carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake."

    LOL!

  5. @kubi – I guess it’s safe to say that it’s mostly true since geeks are more likely to finish school and be successful in their careers. :)

    @benj – Being called a ninja is way cooler but do ninjas earn as much as geeks? Hehe :D

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