We all have heard the word Geek by now, we all use it on occasion, but what is the actual definition? Is Geek the same as nerd? ARE YOU GEEK?
If we google the word Geek, and look at some of the definitions, it does not help matters much...

According to Wikipedia, "the word Geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc."

Dictionary.com has 3 definitions... 1) a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp. one who is perceived to be overly intellectual. 2) a computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.) 3) a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.

If we look at Urban Dictionary, geeks are "the people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult," or "not to be confused with Nerd. A geek does not have to be smart, a Geek is someone who is generaly not athletic, and enjoys Video Games; Comic Books; being on the internet, and etc."

If we truly want to define a Geek, we do not want to look at a strict definition of the word, but look at the cultural definition of a Geek. If you're going "huh" now, then let me explain.

While researching this blog post, I came across paper, Geek Culture: The 3rd Counter Culture, written by Lars Konzack, who has a blog on ludology and game research.
While I may not agree with everything mentioned in the paper, it gave me a lot of different ideas to present you with.

For my fellow Geeks out there, many of us has strange and maybe difficult childhoods - right up to high school even. I embraced my inner-Geek quite late in life (sometime in high-school) as many Geeks do; growing up, Geek was definitely not cool. I am now quite proud to be a Geek.
With that in mind, I don't think I was afraid of admitting it; I was just in denial. Sometimes I wish I had just faced the facts earlier...

Earlier I asked the question; is a Geek the same thing as a nerd and quite simply I think that the answer is no. I think the confusion comes in as there are several overlapping characteristics. Nerds tend to be intellectuals who excel at things academic (especially technological and scientific) and they generally have horrible social skills because they are studious people. They may have similar interests as Geeks but that is where it ends as far as I am concerned.

So what makes a Geek? There is no simple answer really. Is it the (almost) obsession with gadgets? Is it the love of fantasy worlds? Is it their knack with PCs? Are they more introverted than extroverted? Is it their love of gaming? The thing is I could list all sorts of possible characteristics and it still might not be right!
You could also say to me, but lots of people like those things these days or lots of people are like that these days and you would be right, but also oh so wrong!
Think back to the 90's and tell me how many people were on the interwebs? How many had a Geocities page that they called there own? How many people were regularly gaming? How many of them were excited about the Sci-Fi channel on DSTV and were sad to see it go a while ago? Before the movie came out, how many people had read the Lord of the Rings, or many other fantasy series novels? How many could fix their own PCs and knew their way around MS-DOS? A lot less than today I can tell you that much!
If you knew people like that, you probably called them a Geek and ignored them until needed. Unless you were one yourself.
But in our world today with gadgets surrounding us, PC's in our homes, consoles in our lounges, fantasy movies such as Avatar making close to $2 billion already, the Geek has become king.
You may have many of the things that a Geek loves, but that does not make you Geek. It actually just shows that Geeks have managed to affect an entire world culture through his weapon of choice - The Internet.
Thats right the kids you picked on in school are the ones you now silently respect to some degree or another. You might deny it publicly but you can't lie to youself!
What it boils down to is that you know whether you are a Geek or not, but nobody or no-one will ever be able to truly describe it...

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