Do you like being called a geek?

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Renegade

Renegade

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I know a couple of people, not from TE, who took offense to being called a geek. Even though it was said in a positive sense. So I tried to find literal meanings and it turns out there are several possible meanings of the word. The word used to have a negative meaning earlier which has now transformed over the years.

However I think the actual accepted meaning is positive as listed below.

What do you guys think: Is geek a positive word? Would you like to be called a geek and be proud of it?

A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. Geeks are adept with computers, and use the term hacker in a positive way, though not all are hackers themselves.
A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies; for example, using multivariate calculus to determine how they should correctly optimize the dimensions of a pan to bake a cake.
A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who passionately pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance.
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One of four titles used to classify someone based on their technical and social skills. The other three titles are nerd, dork, and normie. The difference between the four titles can be easily shown in table form:

................ Technical ...... Social

Title ............ Skills ......... Skills

---------- ---------------- ------------

Normie ......... No ............. Yes

Geek ........... Yes ............. Yes

Nerd ............ Yes ............. No

Dork ............ No .............. No

Normie: A normal person. Blah.

Geek: An outwardly normal person who has taken the time to learn technical skills. Geeks have as normal a social life as anyone, and usually the only way to tell if someone is a geek is if they inform you of their skills.

Nerd: A socially awkward person who has learned technical skills due to the spare time they enjoy from being generally neglected. Their technical knowledge then leads normies to neglect them even further, leading to more development of their technical skills, more neglection, etc. This vicious cycle drives them even more into social oblivion.

Dork: A person who, although also socially awkward, doesn't have the intelligence to fill the void with technical pursuits, like a nerd, and is forced to do mindless activities. Almost always alone. Usually with an XBox. Like playing Halo. All day. Every day. Not even understanding how the Xbox is making the pretty pictures on the screen. Very sad.
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wow I never expected/imagined Renegade putting this thread up. He strikes as one of those who doesn't really care about such silly titles. If you think about it, most of "us" (well- atleast those who come for the Mumbai meets n stuff) don't really care about it. One of those self-proclaimed know it all and some of those tech bloggers for some reason preferred to be called as "techie" or "geek".
 
Hey, stop judging me and judge the word/title if you must. :P

Do you mind being labelled a geek and why?
 
^^Till rite shows up.

Geek translates to cool. And ofc i wanna know how much the device i use or intend to use is worth so yes its good.

Also, its kinda weird to be knowing after 4 yrs of usage that Oooh.. so my phone/comp was capable of this as well!! Dang.
 
Where is rite??? haven't seen any of his threads i the longest time...
EDIT: And regarding the poll "I really dont care"...
 
No, not really. You should have put an option "doesn't really matter". ((But I am gettin' a feeling that is more about someone calling you a geek rather than how the general population thinks about it.))

But an impression is made that people like to be called as "audiophiles" or "hardware enthusiasts" or "photographers" specifically. Reality check: major difference between wannabes, fans, users (irrespective of how much money they can spend for it) and enthusiasts.
 
I use "geek" a lot in a positive way and the way I say it, people seem to agree to it. Basically, its the way you can pull it off. If you couldn't pull it off, you'd be a "nerd" :D
 
Metalspree said:
Renegade is been missing rite badly hence went ahead and created the thread to catch his attention :P.
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Looks like it. But if renegade is trying to take rite's antics then he's doing it wrong. Only rite knows how to create the rite threads.
 
I don't mind being called a geek ... infact i feel it sums up my personality the best

But i do hate the unprejudiced negative bias that some people conclude about geeks and nerds ... i've personally dealt with such nutjobs

EDIT: what will be interesting about this thread is if anyone has the courage to vote NO ... and that too on a tech forum
 
Geek

Techie

Nerd

Sparky

Comp Freak

Blogger (people mistake forums for blogs).

Assembler

Hardware Junkie

...

..

.

Are all fine. Yea, just fine. I do not mind cause that is what I am.

:)
 
I read the first post and its definitions.
No one called me a geek till now though. :|

Btw, is geek = those kids/guys in movies who calculate in their minds in milli seconds for path of space shuttle, or hack from a cellphone, etc and save the earth? :S
 
'Geek' and 'Nerd' do not just refer to people with technical skills, but in general to people who are highly intellectual and are obsessive about their interests and tend to give more precedence to their intellectual side. Having intellectual skills is not really a bad thing and neither is a relative lack of social skills. The only people who would try to use the words geek or nerd with a negative tone are people who lack those intellectual skills. So taking offense to something like that is like taking offense to a stupid guy calling you clever when you are actually clever. Is that really something that you should be offended about? I for one would take those words as compliments even if they intend it with the meaning that you lack social skills. I mean they are calling you a geek or nerd because unlike you they don't have those skills.
 
i would like being called a Geek (social skills + technical skills)
while in actuality i consider myself a Dork
i have a technical skill and social skill of 2 out of 10 :P

and about the "Taking offense" part,
real netizens don't take offense in anything online
'cause at the end of the day it doesn't affect the "real you"
 
Being called a nerd is actually quite the compliment. i mean we have what they dont :P
we have mastered our social skills and moved on, and they are left catching up :)
 
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