Epic Default Productions

Qs23 Rant 500: What’s Geeky?

by on Mar.25, 2009, under Rants

Ok, here is a simple question for everybody out there: what type of person comes to mind when you hear the words “geek” or “nerd”? Describe them.

I am guessing that most of people who read this rant are going to look in the mirror for the physical description; I could easily do the same. Almost all throughout my primary and secondary school education, I’ve been small and skinny for my age. I even repeated first grade due to the fact that my parents thought I would fare better with children my own size. And halfway through second grade, I had to get glasses—icing on the cake.

But the small, skinny, glasses-wearing kid is only half of the stereotype. For every person at a con who would love the swag shirts to come in medium size, there’s another who wants them in extra large or larger. Three words for those of you who haven’t had him come up in your mental thought process: “Comic Book Guy.”

Being a geek or a nerd can’t just be based on physicality, can it? If being really small or really large would constitute being a geek or nerd, then we would have to group all female gymnasts and the entire cast of “The Biggest Loser” as geeks and nerds. So what is it then?

Maybe it’s how geeks and nerds act. Fanboy-ism is the first thing that comes to mind. We all stood for hours, if not days, for the midnight showing of Star Wars: Episode I. After which, we all metaphorically or actually spit on the Star Wars name for what it had become. But what did we do when Episode II and even Episode III premiered? We were back in line for those midnight showings.

Fanboy-ism is not just a geek thing. Think about all the pickup trucks with a window sticker of Calvin pissing on the logo of another automotive brand. I personally know a “GM Family” to boot. And I know it’s not just an American thing. Ask the nearest Aussie, “Ford or Holden?”

So maybe it’s the vast store of knowledge that can be recited at the drop of a hat. Start a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail around a bunch of geeks, and see how many of them finish the line… And then proceed to recite the rest of the scene… and beyond.

But now that you think of it, all of the sports commentators on ESPN would be geeks. Able to tell the last time the Cubs won the World Series and describe to you the “Merkle Boner” that got them there at the drop of a hat.

So… what type of person comes to mind when the words “geek” or “nerd” are uttered? I never actually wanted to get an answer. I just wanted to take a look to see how geeky and nerdy everybody else could be.



4 comments for this entry:
  1. eye-shuh
    March 27th, 2009 on 8:35 pm

    I don’t think it’s so much the specific activities, knowledge or physique. I think it’s more that those things are ALL a person does.

    I know a lot of kids from college who played Halo like there’s no tomorrow or ones that grabbed every last issue of X-Men off the shelf or that actually found joy in solving math problems. Would I call any of them geeks? No, not really.

    That wasn’t all they did. Sure, they did the geeky stuff or might have looked like geeks but they had other interests, other friends, and actually got out into the world instead of hiding behind their xbox’s.

    To me, a real “geek” in the non-humorous sense is someone who doesn’t care about anything else except that one thing they like or are good at. They don’t try to do anything else and as a result alienate themselves from the rest of the world.

  2. Oz K. Fodrotski
    March 31st, 2009 on 4:46 am

    I think miss Eye-shuh is confused between “geek” and “nerd.”

  3. Jemgirl817
    March 31st, 2009 on 3:17 pm

    don’t you know that geek is the new chic? it’s cropped up in fashion for years now, thick plastic rimmed glasses were once the laughing stock of the frame world, and now are some of the hippest form of eyeware.

    when I think of a geek, I think of someone I’d probably have a crush on. Someone who is smart, has various pop culture and obscure culture references to spout at any given time, is funny, a little goofy/dorky, and basically a ton of fun to be around. and is someone who will accept me in all my dorky glory.

    and nerd is generally the super brain who, like Eye-shuh states, alienates themselves from social behavior.

    now can you intermingle the two, yes, because usually a geek is also a little bit nerdy.

  4. sageoflight
    November 23rd, 2009 on 5:14 pm

    Actually, I think it is perfectly okay to call sports commentators geeks. In fact, their behavior on TV probably qualifies them as geeks and dorks (people who socially alienate others through unpleasant behavior). The only thing that seems to exempt them from these titles is the way society seems to accept the study of sports statistics as mainstream instead of being a geeky pursuit.
    This is probably because sports were a hobby long before all other pursuits, meaning that there was a time when everyone was into sports, since there was nothing better to do, except study (if you were a nerd).
    With several new pursuits arising, sports have lost their omnipotence and will soon be just another hobby for the geeks.

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