Are you a geek? - Page 2

DjWeston · 06-06-2008, 01:16 PM

Funny, I've never heard anyone be called a "Geek" before but I have heard "Nerd". In my area, Geek isn't a title it's a verb. Like if I go off on a tangent about how awesome something is, no matter what it is, someone will say i'm getting geeky on it. No one has heard the word used this way besides me?

myfourtwofour · 06-10-2008, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DjWeston

Funny, I've never heard anyone be called a "Geek" before but I have heard "Nerd". In my area, Geek isn't a title it's a verb. Like if I go off on a tangent about how awesome something is, no matter what it is, someone will say i'm getting geeky on it. No one has heard the word used this way besides me?

Think i kinda prefer the way you say "getting geeky on it" - i think i shall incorporate this into my own vocab!

ShadoFrost · 06-10-2008, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DjWeston

Funny, I've never heard anyone be called a "Geek" before but I have heard "Nerd". In my area, Geek isn't a title it's a verb. Like if I go off on a tangent about how awesome something is, no matter what it is, someone will say i'm getting geeky on it. No one has heard the word used this way besides me?

Nope and don't intend to

.

here Geek is a title and noun.
I've been called a geek a few times and I consider my self to be part geek/dork. A hard thing to be where I'm from but I where the title proudly. You're likely to hear me talking in depth about philosophy, a game, a comic, or an anime while listening to Dr. Dre with my du-rag on. A look at my room and you'll probably get a little confused.

DjWeston · 06-10-2008, 03:21 PM

The problem with titles is that they are reflected upon much like symbolism. If you give yourself a title you're giving everyone else a definition by which to place you, even if you don't agree with that definition. That's a sociological issue though, i'm not sure the words geek and nerd are really that controversial and frankly haven't heard them used excessively until I started attending college for Game Design. One of the questions on my application to the school was for me to define what "geek" meant and if I considered myself one. I found that a really peculiar question to ask on a college application.

ShadoFrost · 06-11-2008, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DjWeston

The problem with titles is that they are reflected upon much like symbolism. If you give yourself a title you're giving everyone else a definition by which to place you, even if you don't agree with that definition. That's a sociological issue though, i'm not sure the words geek and nerd are really that controversial and frankly haven't heard them used excessively until I started attending college for Game Design. One of the questions on my application to the school was for me to define what "geek" meant and if I considered myself one. I found that a really peculiar question to ask on a college application.

True, but here is the thing. People have the tendency to group and simplify everything their senses touch and their mind interprets. Whether it is chunking, profiling, stereotyping, or grouping. It's natural and is in fact the basis for which we retain information, solve puzzles, avoid dangers, play games and basically live. People are going to place you in a category whether you accept it or not but what you can control is what category they associate you with because you better believe you are going to be associated with something or a group of things.

Saying you're a geek is similar to any self title such as an athlete, a musician, a politician, a Floridian, a male, a female, or a gamer. Seldom would you meet a person and they don’t already have you set in a frame, first impressions. Whatever you choose to call your self people are going to refer to their archetypal frame and try to fit you in there which may come with positive or negative attachments that you have no control over at first. You can stretch the frame and even break it through action and speech. Stretching it may give you a new title such as the athletic geek or the politician/gamer and breaking it entitles even harder work and usually only leads you to be placed in whole other frame. If you’re really good you can be placed in a golden frame of your own i.e. a d’Vinci, a Speilberg, or a Will Wright.

EvilLlama · 06-11-2008, 05:36 PM

It depends how it's used. If it's used in a way to describe someone who is really passionate about something (as most of us on this site use it) then it's a good thing. But sometimes people use it to describe someone who is so irrationally obsessed with something they've lost all trace of any hint of ability to interact socially (think WoW/Everquest/insert addictive MMO title here gamers who play 24/7, are fat, old and ugly and live with their mom not because they like their mothers but because they don't want to get offline to support themselves) then I don't like it.

Nerds are similar only they are less passionate/obsessed with something as they know every single little unimportant fact about said topic. People can be both.