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I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means
Huh, my culture has been violated in an unexpected way.
I have begun to notice a small but prolific segment of the online population who are self-identifying as geeks, and frequently describing things as "a cool geek thing", with no connotation related to what I think of as geekery. Having seen a few different examples, the only unifying thread I can find is that the thing in question is always considered cool by the author. Now, I understand that, as with other terms of derision applied to other subcultures in the past, the term 'geek' has been absconded with and made a badge of pride. However, even in its most positive sense I have always thought of geekdom as representing a very specific (if not easily quantified) culture - something roughly like "quasi-obsessive intellectual counter-culturalism", and when unmodified (as in "theatre geek") a specific connotation of technological obsession. It is not always a good thing, in my mind.
These persons I speak of don't seem to mean that at all. As far as I can tell, to them geek == cool, and there is no further specificity to it. That disconcerts me, like they're sneaking off with a little bit of my identity. It seems like an odd occurrence; it may be cool to be a geek, but it's also cool to be a queer, and I don't know anyone who identifies themselves that way without at least claiming some kind of non-standard orientation.
Am I misconstruing this, or is the term 'geek' becoming to dilute to be meaningful?
(Note: this is kind of a fiddly little thing to be spending time thinking about, but, in fact, that's one of the ungood things about geekery - a tendency to focus on minutiae.)
I want my elitism back!
I have begun to notice a small but prolific segment of the online population who are self-identifying as geeks, and frequently describing things as "a cool geek thing", with no connotation related to what I think of as geekery. Having seen a few different examples, the only unifying thread I can find is that the thing in question is always considered cool by the author. Now, I understand that, as with other terms of derision applied to other subcultures in the past, the term 'geek' has been absconded with and made a badge of pride. However, even in its most positive sense I have always thought of geekdom as representing a very specific (if not easily quantified) culture - something roughly like "quasi-obsessive intellectual counter-culturalism", and when unmodified (as in "theatre geek") a specific connotation of technological obsession. It is not always a good thing, in my mind.
These persons I speak of don't seem to mean that at all. As far as I can tell, to them geek == cool, and there is no further specificity to it. That disconcerts me, like they're sneaking off with a little bit of my identity. It seems like an odd occurrence; it may be cool to be a geek, but it's also cool to be a queer, and I don't know anyone who identifies themselves that way without at least claiming some kind of non-standard orientation.
Am I misconstruing this, or is the term 'geek' becoming to dilute to be meaningful?
(Note: this is kind of a fiddly little thing to be spending time thinking about, but, in fact, that's one of the ungood things about geekery - a tendency to focus on minutiae.)
I want my elitism back!
no subject
"I'm being geeky" has come to mean "I'm being enthusiastic about my particular specific interest". THerefore, you get theater geeks, comic book geeks, and Elizabethan geeks. It has lost the negative connotations of "so focused on a specific topic that you forget to bathe and other major social graces" and has taken on the subtly different badge of "so focused on a specific topic that you ramble a bit, gush excessively, and forget minor social graces".
no subject