-noun Slang.
1. A computer expert or enthusiast (a term of pride as self-reference, but often considered offensive when used by outsiders.)
2. A peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual
3. A carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken.
The third one is kinda fascinating since that one blindsided me. I couldn't help but laugh. Here are more definitions.
geek (gi:k)
- n
1. a person who is preoccupied with or very knowledgeable about computing
2. a boring and unattractive social misfit
3. a degenerate
Now, that one's from the World English Dictionary. Next will be the Slang version.
- n
1. a disgusting and repellent person; a creep. (Rude and derogatory)
2. an earnest student; a hardworking student.
3. A person, soldier, or civilian of an East Asian country, especially in wartime.
I never really knew what geek meant but I did understand the vernacular connotation it held to society (Did I use the word vernacular right?). For so long, people have used the word geek to describe social outcasts who were intellectually hooked on things like programming, comic books, video games, etc., instead of doing the more normal interaction with other people. Interestingly enough, what caught my interest among all these definitions was the one about the carnival.
It just so happened back in the day that the people who performed bizarre stunts in a carnival were called geeks. Those people were paid to do the more bizarre things that others couldn't quite do. So, in that respect, to be called a geek is to be labeled as someone who can do extraordinary things that mainstream society can only conclude as odd.
I don't enjoy programming but I do love comic books. Video games aren't so bad too. Anime is pretty wicked and that goes the same with books. When my parents came home from Japan and brought with them certain anime paraphernalia, I remember drawing Goku from Dragonball Z and it was an amazing replica, modesty aside. I think that was the start of my geekdom. I was around 8-years-old.
Drawing became a fun hobby but I never took it seriously. Not yet anyway. Then, a friend introduced me to Harry Potter. That was around 1998. I became a book lover ever since. Drawing by then became a serious pastime for me. I drew original characters, made up stories, and even attempted to draw my own comic. In the end, that didn't happen but the drawing still continued.
I kept at doing all these things and all the while I was labeled a geek. Some of my friends couldn't understand my fascination with drawing, anime, manga, comic books, novels, and the rest. They made me feel bad for not being like them.
Why couldn't I love sports? Why couldn't I study more seriously? Why couldn't I get my head out of the clouds and smack down to reality and stop being so childish?
What was so bad about loving the things that I did? Just because they looked like cartoons didn't mean the show had a childish plot. Just because I couldn't stop drawing those anime characters didn't mean that I couldn't understand a serious conversation. Just because my head was full of fictitious stories didn't mean that my maturity was any less than theirs.
It went on and on and on.
Then, I tried to stop being a geek. I focused on sports and I did well enough. I joined conversations more and it got me closer to my friends. I stopped drawing and I felt a lot more people relax around me. Though some good stuff did happen from my geek withdrawal, I felt very bad inside. Why did I have to reject who I was? For what? For respect? What kind of respect forced you to deny who you were?
It wasn't until late into my college days that I found friends who were just like me. Geek to the core. In fairness to my college friends, we liked the same things and whatnot but our beliefs were too different. I still loved them nonetheless. But these new friends of mine, they made me come back to my utter geekdom. It was refreshing. It made me realize just what it was that I was missing by going mainstream instead of being just me. Thank God I met them.
Here I am now, a self-proclaimed geek, with friends far more hardcore in their geekiness than I am and I've never felt happier. We are a League of Extraordinary Gentlegeeks. I truly hope that 'geek' won't ever become mainstream. I quite like standing to the side instead of being in the focal point of things.
Geek. Someone who goes against mainstream. That isn't really so bad is it?
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