Geek is the New Cool
Dictionary.com has this to say about the word Geek:
- A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
- A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
- A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.
Do you remember when being a geek was a bad thing? I do. Being called a geek when I was in elementary and high school was a serious slap in the face. Today, however, the term is a badge of honor. Certainly, I wear the geek title with pride. And I enjoy associating with other geeks - more geeky than myself if possible.
How did this happen? When did it become cool to be a geek? I don't know the exact time, but near the end of my university tenure (mid-nineties for those of you who must know), being a geek was less of a stigma than being a nerd, a spaz, or a dweeb. The dot.com craze was sweeping the nation, and computer geeks were leading the way. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were early champions of the geek is sheik phenomena. Geeks were quickly becoming millionaires, and the rest of the world was quick to see geeks in a new light. We've never looked back.
From a personal standpoint, I've always preferred geeks to mainstream people (i.e. those cool jocks and cheerleaders who have largely found that high school was the high point of their lives). Back in the day I didn't think of my friends as geeks, though. They were just interesting people that saw the world in a different way than most other people. I could identify with them. They were heaps more fun to talk to and their intelligent "in jokes" made me feel like part of a special club. I wouldn't have called myself a geek in high school, but I don't mind that moniker now. I embrace it. And most of the people that I hang out with now are self-professed geeks. And anyone who wouldn't call themselves a geek, I wouldn't want to have the title anyway. People who still think geek is lame are most likely lame themselves, in my humble opinion.
Embrace it, people: geek is the new cool.
posted by Trillian @ 1:27 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I can only aspire to geekdom, I fear, although most of my close friends are geeks of one stripe or another.
Now I know why Revenge of the Nerds is, like, my favorite movie of all time! Thank you, thank you, thank you (or t/y-cubed for those on the inside) for validating our long-held assumptions and hopes.
Isn't it funny that now that we're adults, no one gravitates toward the now-ex-jocks who tell boring stories of their decades-old exploits on the gridiron or whatever venue. But folks with advanced knowledge of anything always seem to be surrounded by hangers-on intent on learning from these nerwins.
My, how the tables have turned.
I was boen AD&D cool. or better yet The geek wants out.
Rich - I nearly pissed my pants when I heard this - he could have been talking about my two best friends.
I can only add: geek is the new black.
It's getting so that a respectable geek doesn't want to call himself a geek any more.
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