Reading things like "A Girl's Guide to Geek Guys" and "The Guy's Guide to Geek Girls" (linked to by Jeremy who should know better) makes me cringe. I've got all the angles covered here: I'm a girl, I'm a geek and er, okay, I'm not a guy -- but I know many geek guys. What are you people thinking when you write these things?
Let's clear some things up.
- The Star Trek thing.
Star Trek is not a geek thing. Not all geeks like Star Trek, heck, most geeks I know never watch it. Would you people stop equating geeks with Star Trek freaks? Who the hell is Ivanova? The first guy to buy me a Star Trek mousepad as a cute gift would wear it as a collar in about fifteen seconds or less.
- Branded tshirts.
So people think geeks wear tshirts with brand names because they're proudly displaying their loyalty? That's cute and funny at the same time. T-shirts at conferences are free, t-shirts at conferences come emblazoned with logos and brand-names, ergo, geeks often wear tshirts with brand names because they're free. Unlike the rest of you gap-labled yuppies, we don't pay to advertise corporations.
Unless you count my Free Software Foundation tshirt, I paid for that, but that was really more of a donation than a purchase. Sort of like the emacs manual, yah, i'll ever read that!
- Geeks can fix things.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha -- that's all I'm going to say on the issue.
- Geeks have no social life.
Let's define "social life" :
social: Pronunciation: 'sO-sh&l Function: adjective 1 : involving allies or confederates <the Social War between the Athenians and their allies> 2 a : marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one's friends or associates <leads a very full social life>
life: Pronunciation: 'lIf
Function: noun
1 a : the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body
In other words, alive and spending time with allies and friends. I think we covered that one with conventions and IRC quite well, thank you very much. The common misconception here seems to be that getting drunk and rowdy in a bar is somehow more desirable than an intellectual discussion over a gaggle of laptops. We do the former as well, you just don't think of us as geeks when you see it -- the laptops are usually missing, that's why.
I think it's clear where this is going? Geeks come in all shapes and sizes, but damnit, they don't all like Star Trek!
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I bought a Wikipedia T-shirt once.
#Thank you for a good laugh. :) I was nodding all along.
Star Trek is really annoying. The pseudoscientific bullshitting really grates on my nerves. I could hardly ever watch an episode without cringing at least once — not that I saw that many (for probably obvious reasons). And while I *am* a bit of a Star Wars geek, I find SW merch mostly silly.
#I followed those links from Jeremy as well, and had similar thoughts: they seem wrong in so many directions they're not worth mentioning.
#Definition of geek stolen from esr's faqs on the front page of my un-finished site! http://www.geekdom.org/
#Star Trek is just really, really bad now.
Star Wars, I will watch. I think it is just to finish the story.
Dr. Who had some really good (and bad) stories. Dr. Who is coming back in 2005, so that might be the new Geek thing or at least the new Geek Stereotype.
Amen brother.
#Amen sister.
#
Heh. Someone is clearly confusing geeks and nerds. Nerds are all about Star Trek. Geeks find it annoying. *grin*
Well, I guess trackbacks are just a MT thing (or something), but I linked ya up too: http://amber.tangerinecs.com/viewentry.php?entry=174
Awesome post! Thank you! :)
#Preach on, sistah.
<EOL>
I thought a geek was someone who bit the heads off live chickens.
#Just a minor point: it's not at all uncommon for geeks to have 'social lives' in a sense much more closer to the one the authors obviously meant. Consider the geek dinner y'all had some time ago - and if you tell me that this is the only time in, say, the past year, that you've got together with other geeks informally, over a meal, a beer, or just a nice warm cuppa - well, I just won't believe it, plain and simple :)
#You pay to attend conferences - you pay for the shirt.
#I concur. The best thing about going to Trek movies is sitting in Timmy Ho's* afterward, tearing the crap "science" to shreds. I have a friend, though, a geek female, who is all upons for Star Trek. I called it science fantasy once and she tore a strip off me. What freakin ever.
Best geek thing on the intarweb: http://www.brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif
#
I like that chart, it spawned an immediate debate among my role-playing, d&d-playing and comic-reading co-workers therefore proving its accuracy.
#http://www.brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif
Fortunately, being a (once-)published SF author, I can look down my nose at everyone else on the chart...
Oh yeah, meant to add this to my previous comment:
* Timmy Ho's == Tim Hortons (http://timhortons.com/)
#Pretty much by definition, someone who can't fix things isn't a geek (or "nerd", the equivalent term for those deviant east-coasters). Usually we broke whatever it is we're fixing, but we can fix it afterwards. If you can't, you aren't skilled enough at whatever your obsession is to be called a geek.
The SF TV show thing seems to depend on social circles. Some geeks hang out a lot with fans (geek or non-geek), and so watch Star Trek, Babylon 5 (where Susan Ivanova is God), Firefly, Dr. Who, etc. Others don't, but for all I know they live benighted lives huddling alone under underpasses, as they're outside my social circle.
Actually, the geeks and Star Trek connection depends who you ask...
For example, I'm a geek that loves Star Trek and HATES Star Wars. I've met plenty of geeks that loved Star Trek, especially scientist types since its more factually correct than Star Wars (that's always an interesting debate)... However, if you walk three feet in any direction, you'll likely find someone who hates Star Trek and loves Star Wars... Depends on the circle you hang in.
As for social scene... Going out and drinking on the town can yield just as interesting a conversation than one held in IRC. For example, last weekend I went out to get my Absinthe fix and we ended up talking about the processes and progression of addiction. Other times its been about things like law and legal stuff (one of the regular people is a lawyer), cooking (one is a "cook"), etc.
I used to hang out in IRC and on boards a lot, but nothing beats hanging out and just randomly meeting people of all angles from geeks to dimwitted, drunken 18 year olds trying to pull one over on a bar tender. IRC and boards tend to lack the diversity of the real world.
#It's not just me... apparently I'm not the only geek who isn't into Star Trek. Kasia blogs about it. Never really been into the show. My wife, a woman who for all practical purposes is pretty much non-geek, can amaze me with the "facts" she kno...
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September 14, 2004 11:19 AM
Kasia wanted to clear some things up about geeks. In most cases I agree (Star Trek: I don’t get it; T-shirts: all mine are from races) but I would like to correct one of her misconceptions. Geeks can fix things....
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September 14, 2004 10:32 PM