Geekdom in its various permutations

[tritoneclarinet]

I will freely admit to anyone that I am a geek. It's fairly obvious if you know me even slightly, and I'm justly proud of that fact. And yet.... It's such a stereotypical term for something that spans a wide spectrum of interests

Comments

[asakiyume]

I think for me, "geek" = really passionately interested in something, so I don't see it as a bad thing at all! I love it when people passionately love stuff.

The socially awkward part... sometimes, if a person's never had a chance to share their interest, then it's hard to learn how, the give and take of conversation, etc. But the internet is great for that. We don't have to be hampered by in-person stuff; we can just share. I love that.

[tritoneclarinet]

Oh definitely about the socially awkward part. I think that's why the internet is such a haven for so many people... It's a lot easier to talk to someone that you only know as a screenname or an icon than it is to talk to a real person. I know that I can be very very shy around people I've just met in person. Then again, you know that. :)

[asakiyume]

You are quite personable in person (but maybe you were feeling very shy on the inside)!

[tritoneclarinet]

Oh, believe me, I was. You're easy to talk to though. :)

[sartorias]

Good question . . . have to think about that...but my answer might be gabbier than is polite on someone else's space.

[tritoneclarinet]

No problem. And it's ok to gab. Heaven knows that I've done it enough on yours. :)

I think that with the increasing acceptance of geeks, it's become a lot more mainstream. Hopefully to the benefit of all society. That said, I've still encountered the stereotypical "cool kids".... Jocks/Preps, for instance, and it's amazing how they couldn't understand me.

This summer was interesting at the camp. About four out of the five people that I worked with were "normal" and they tended to not understand my outlook on the world and the ways in which I interacted with other people. That said, I think it ultimately was to the benefit of the camp to have me and the other geeky staff member there.... I can't tell you how many times I had discussions on Star Wars with the kids, or my other co-worker discussed comics with them. There does seem to be a legit gap in thinking.

[sartorias]

Oh, I can sure understand that. Heck, diversity is a good thing all across the board.

[tritoneclarinet]

Tell that to my boss there... Lately she seems to be hiring solely those who fall under the jock/prep group, and not actually using us to our strengths. For instance, she put me, she of the gimpy knees, little grace, and most overweight one in the group, in charge of sports for last summer.... :\ I really don't want to come back for next year because of it (as well as other things).

[avengangle]

Oh, lord, yes. I am driven crazy by, say, the channel G4, which seems to think that all 'geeks' are exactly the same: male gamers. I am not a gamer, although I certainly qualify as a geek. Also, I am not male. As a matter of fact, I heard that at one point in time, there were more women playing World of Warcraft than men, so their horribly sexist advertising is a load of crap. (Not WoW, although theirs is; I meant G4's

[tritoneclarinet]

Gamers are a category in and of themselves. Video games are so common as to be culturally accepted as the norm. Certain varieties are more normal than others, in my view. Consider a sports game versus an RPG, for instance. But even in that case, WoW has shown us that even MMORPGs are no longer the sole realm of the geek anymore

[green_knight]

I'm a Macintosh geek (other computers don't excite me, or rather, they tend to annoy me because I don't get things done). I'm also a fan (what *other* than SF can you be a fan of?), a classical dressage enthusiast, an academic through and through...

Hm. I seem to have different terms for different obssessions. I would never consider myself a dressage geek, for instance, and I certainly am not an anorak.

[avengangle]

Baseball? :)

Odd that someone who's obsessed with sports enough to know the stats for everything ever is considered 'normal,' or perhaps 'cool,' and yet someone who knows all those facts and figures about BSG, for example, is a dork.

[tritoneclarinet]

Dressage is beautiful. I wish that I had had more access to horses when I was younger, and much more horse crazy. :)

It seems like sci fi/fantasy fans tend to separate themselves out into "fandoms" across the internet. So you have Star Wars fans, Harry Potter fans, Twilight fans, etc. etc. There are also fandoms for bands, movies, TV shows, cultural phenomenons ("Every time you write parallel fifths Bach kills a kitten!"), so on and so forth. But yeah... Sci Fi/Fantasy tends to spark off a large majority of them.

Academia is a realm of geekdom in and of itself, one that I wish I was more actively a part of. :)

I think the different terms are only natural, and provide a unifier for people with similar interests and habits. When you say "band dork" it evokes certain images and tells you certain things about a person. Same goes for Gamer or LARPer.

That said, what exactly is an anorak? *is very puzzled*

[green_knight]

Dressage is beautiful.

It is indeed, and while I could not recoommend taking it up much after fifty, it certainly can be practiced as a lifelong obsession ;-)

I think the main split is between books and TV/movies. I'm a writer as well as a reader, and I don't see as much split in people who like books, whereas the fan-fiction writing fandom appears to be all over the map.

Academia is a realm of geekdom in and of itself, one that I wish I was more actively a part of. :)

I've been out of it for a bit, but I realised that I was missing it badly. I've just received my library card. ()

An anorak is a British term, probably derived from twitchers (err, birdwatchers) wearing the same, and it denotes someone who is not just obsessed about something, but does so in an obsessive manner. Trainspotters who take down the number of every engine, that sort of thing. Anoraks are considered socially awkward but harmless.

[mynda]

Clearly, anyone who earns a degree in a "geek" subject has earned the title. So music is one of mine