Alaskan Artist - Elise Tomlinson
Home Artist Blog About Me Life in Alaska Purchase Site Index Speak
Home » Archives » September 2005 » I'M A GEEK!

[Previous entry: "I'll never tell..."] [Next entry: "God Bless America"]

09/21/2005: "I'M A GEEK!"


This afternoon we had a joint b-day party between the library staff and our computing (Information Technology) department. I came in late so only the IT folks were left and they were having two separate techie conversations so I said (as a joke)

Me: “Boy, your conversations are boring!”

IT Director: “I’d take offense to that except I know you’re a Geek too”.

Me: “In my secret heart of hearts I probably am”

IT Director: “I don’t think it’s much of a secret”.

Me: (internal dialog) Yeah! At long last!!!

Achieving geek status is one of the highest compliments in the IT universe. Of course, I can only assume that he meant definition number 1.

1. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.” (compliment)

And not number 2.

2. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken. (not a compliment in *most* situations)

Speaking of which, one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read was called Geek Love “The premise is bizarre. Art and Lily, owners of Binewski's Fabulon, a traveling carnival, decide to breed their own freak show by creating genetically altered children through the use of experimental drugs.” (from Publisher’s Weekly)

BTW, I'm signed up to be one of WestHost's beta testers for Perl 5.8.7 and if I give feedback on all the required applications I get this sufficiently geeky t-shirt. You know you want one!


Replies: 13 Comments

on Wednesday, September 21st, ann said

Oh, yeah. That's a geek's t-shirt.

I keep announcing to random people that I'm a nerd, but they don't tend to believe me. Hmm...

on Wednesday, September 21st, mick said

Before we had geeks we had "trainspotters" who sat on railway stations spotting steam trains wearing scruffy anoraks - hence the alternative description "Anorak"

on Thursday, September 22nd, Elise said

Well, I'd take that as a compliment Ann. right?

And Mick, I've heard of trainspotting (from the movie) but I'm not really seeing the connection with a computer geek. Are trainspotters generally the techy type? and I'm not familar with the alternative description "anorak"...an alternative description for what? You Brits!

on Thursday, September 22nd, holly said

How can you live in Alaska and not know what an anorak is?!? I can do you one better and show you a man pretending (I hope) to be a trainspotter wearing a scruffy anorak. Or maybe he's some sort of perv.

Also, here is a nerd aptitude test. I am not much of a nerd. I have been called geek more often than nerd, but personally prefer dork, becuase that's what I am. In my secret heart of hearts.

on Thursday, September 22nd, mick said

Thanks Holly - I guess I wasnt very explicit - but your example was perfect. Similarities between an "Anorak" and a geek are the ability to consume vast quantities of techy information and spout it at great length to anyone daft enough to stick around. Anoraks can tell you how to get from Lands End to John O Groats any day of the week, at any time and by every possible alternative route. Many have a permanent squint and ink on their nose tips from hours spent gleaning info from timetables. Socially inept or out of sync in the extreme LOL.

on Thursday, September 22nd, Elise said

I know what an anorak is silly, I just didn't know what it meant in the British vernacular.

As for dork vs. geek vs. nerd, I personally identify with geek the most. I don't really think I'm too nerdy, though I do tend towards dorkiness often enough.

Did you know in the dictionary they have the second definition of dork as vulgar slang for the penis!

Oh the things I've learned from having and reading blogs!

on Thursday, September 22nd, holly said

I thought maybe you called it a "parka". Anorak would be a good name for a snowmobile. Or some sort of itchy skin disease ("Would you please scratch that patch of anorak on my back? I can't reach it and I'm about to gnaw my arm off.")

I'm a...dick?!?!? *gasp* Yeah, I've been called that, too...

on Thursday, September 22nd, holly said

Damn your Winky Face smiley again! I did not put a Winky Face in my comment! I take my itchy skin diseases very seriously!

(Oh and the t-shirt is awesome)

on Thursday, September 22nd, Elise said

The smiley faces are made by different punctuation marks. In the case of the smiley wink, it's a semi-colon followed by a parenthesis, show below with a space between them so it won't actually convert into a winky smiley.
; )
it maybe got confused by the punctuation you used at the end of that sentance:
." )
or maybe my comments thing is just toying with you Holly???

on Thursday, September 22nd, elderberrystudio2000@yahoo.com">Jackie said

E: Okay - so I previously labelled myself a 'dork' - but no longer! Here's an interesting history of 'nerd' from Dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=nerd
Hmmm...so now what am I? I'm certainly NOT an anorak...
This one's for HOlly:
;)

on Thursday, September 22nd, Elise said

dweeb perhaps?

A person regarded as socially inept or foolish, often on account of being overly studious.

on Friday, September 23rd, greg said

BWAH-HA-HA!! A tenured librarian calling Techie converse "boringg!"

"Did you realize the Dewey Decimal system was one of 47 submitted cataloging models ...?" *snarf*
(just razzing you - winkywinky)

Golly -- now I know I must be one of those, probably a cross section ... a dwerdeek, perhaps ... ?

A know I'm not an Anorak, coz I been to York and never went to the world's largest train museum. Suspicion remains just knowing that fact.

I wonder if Mick or Dio are Chavs, or know any Chavs? :D

on Friday, September 23rd, Elise said

Funny you should ask Greg, Dio designed and maintains a site called "Chav Mum's Chavs Test" http://chavstest.com/

You can take the test "How chav are you", it's fun. Dio was a high percentage chav and I took the "posh" test too, my test was less definitive because I wasn't familiar with some of the shops and stuff from the UK that the test references.

I was raised chav, that's for sure. I've just poshed up a bit as an adult (but not too much).