geek

geek
    n 1: a carnival performer who does disgusting acts
    2: a person with an unusual or odd personality [syn:
       {eccentric}, {eccentric person}, {flake}, {oddball}, {geek}]
    

geek \geek\ (g[=e]k), n.
   1. A performer in a carnival, often presented as a wild man,
      who performs grotesquely disgusting acts, such as biting
      the head off a live chicken or snake.
      [PJC]

   2. Hence: Any eccentric or strange person; an oddball; an
      eccentric. [WordNet sense 1]
      [PJC]

   3. Hence: A student who is socially inept and a misfit in his
      class, especially one who is an intellectual; a nerd; a
      dork. [Informal]
      [PJC]

   4. Hence: An intellectually inclined person, especially one
      who is interested in scientific or technical subjects; as,
      a group of geeks wearing pocket protectors; -- originally
      a deprecatory and contemptuous term, but in the 1990's,
      with the increase in popularity of computers and the
      frequency of accumulation of great wealth by computer
      entrepreneurs, it has come to be used with noticeable
      frequency by technically competent people to refer to
      themselves, ironically and sometimes proudly. [Informal]
      [PJC]
    

geek
 n.

   A person who has chosen concentration rather than conformity; one who
   pursues skill (especially technical skill) and imagination, not
   mainstream social acceptance. Geeks usually have a strong case of
   {neophilia}. Most geeks are adept with computers and treat {hacker} as
   a term of respect, but not all are hackers themselves -- and some who
   are in fact hackers normally call themselves geeks anyway, because
   they (quite properly) regard `hacker' as a label that should be
   bestowed by others rather than self-assumed.

   One description accurately if a little breathlessly enumerates
   "gamers, ravers, science fiction fans, punks, perverts, programmers,
   nerds, subgenii, and trekkies. These are people who did not go to
   their high school proms, and many would be offended by the suggestion
   that they should have even wanted to."

   Originally, a geek was a carnival performer who bit the heads off
   chickens. (In early 20th-century Scotland a `geek' was an immature
   coley, a type of fish.) Before about 1990 usage of this term was
   rather negative. Earlier versions of this lexicon defined a computer
   geek as one who eats (computer) bugs for a living -- an asocial,
   malodorous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality of a
   cheese grater. This is often still the way geeks are regarded by
   non-geeks, but as the mainstream culture becomes more dependent on
   technology and technical skill mainstream attitudes have tended to
   shift towards grudging respect. Correspondingly, there are now `geek
   pride' festivals (the implied reference to `gay pride' is not
   accidental).

   See also {propeller head}, {clustergeeking}, {geek out}, {wannabee},
   {terminal junkie}, {spod}, {weenie}, {geek code}, {alpha geek}.
    

computer geek
computer nerd
geek
turbo nerd

   <jargon> (Or "turbo nerd", "turbo geek") One who eats
   (computer) {bugs} for a living.  One who fulfils all the
   dreariest negative stereotypes about {hackers}: an asocial,
   malodourous, pasty-faced monomaniac with all the personality
   of a cheese grater.  The term cannot be used by outsiders
   without implied insult to all {hackers}; compare
   black-on-black usage of "nigger".  A computer geek may be
   either a fundamentally clueless individual or a proto-hacker
   in {larval stage}.

   See also {Alpha Geek}, {propeller head}, {clustergeeking},
   {geek out}, {wannabee}, {terminal junkie}, {spod}, {weenie}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1997-06-26)