What is a Geek?

[butterflydreaming]

capri0mni posted some in-depth thoughts on the definition of geek in this post here, proposing this definition:

"Someone to whom the sentence: "You're over-thinking this," is inherently nonsensical."

In replying, I found myself clambering on to a soap box.


Putting aside for a moment that I believe identifiers of any kind are chosen by the person doing the choosing, I disagree with your definition of one who "over-thinks" things as being a quite accurate summation of "geek." I think it is one of the typical traits of those perceived as geeks.

I would define a geek as someone who expresses passionate enthusiasm about some minutia, usually with extensive knowledge of the subject. Or, more accurately, I would say that that expression is "geeking out." However, not everyone who geeks out will self identify as a geek, or be perceived by current culture as a geek, unless there was a specification to the geekery. For example, a baseball fan (not usually considered a geek) can geek out about stats (enthusiastic and encyclopedic monologue), for which I might call that person a "baseball geek."

Splitting hairs: a geek differs from a nerd in that a nerd has the knowledge, but not the passionate expression.

The current concept of "geek" is associated with SF/Fantasy, gaming, comic books, and viral videos because that is where the nerds and geeks appear in saturation. Geeking out over baseball or opera or any other conventionally mainstream thing is easily perceived as expertise. Knowing enough about the Green Lantern Corps to argue the merits of Kyle Rayner over John Stewart is no different, in essence, than (enthusiastically) arguing the merits of Gauguin over Renior. The (mainstream) perception is that knowledge of painters has more merit than knowledge of fictitious comic book characters. But does it?

What is currently called Geek Culture is an amalgam of things that were the interests of those who were awkward kids 25 years (a generation) ago. Those kids who read science fiction and played D&D were often the same kids inclined toward the sciences (over the arts, sports, or business) and the emerging field of computer technology. What happened is that those socially fringe kids are now adults owning or working in companies like Microsoft, Blizzard (World of Warcraft), and Google. There is money to be made in Geek Culture, so Geek Culture is getting more acceptable and mainstream.

And geeks -- bless us -- think that means we are getting accepted. That we are the cool kids now. That's not it at all, though. The "cool" kids just like playing with our toys. Hipsters have iPhones. Console games are widely played by non-geeks. Those who would never consider cosplay, even if they new the term, might wear a batman costume to a Halloween costume party, because batman is recognizable. The difference is that a smartphone wielding geek probably lusted, literally, for that new tech. A gamer geek announces on her Facebook that she will be out of touch and likely unhygenic for the next few weeks because Skyrim has just come out. (What non geek, non gamer has even heard of Skyrim? Isn't that the bad guy from the Terminator movies? Oh wait -- that would be a geek reference, sorry.) A comic book geek would be making a point by his choice of a black-and-grey bat emblem or one with a yellow background; in theory, so would a costuming geek.

When I think of the phrase, "someone who overthinks," my mind goes directly to Winnie the Pooh saying, "Think think think." Winnie the Pooh is not a geek. However, I knew someone who would say "think think think" when he was pondering. Which is to say, geeks make references in their everyday speech. Or, rather, making references is an incidental way is a very geek thing to do.

So what would I call someone who over-thinks (by conventional standards)? Besides, "my people," that is. Or Libra. I'm not sure.