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Oh, um, hmmm. I don't usually think of geeks as defined by their SF fan status. In my mind, geeks are people who know a lot about a particular subject because they're obsessed with it to some degree, and that's more likely to be computers and programming than any one other topic.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: May 1999
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I agree with martha, although I don't think that computers and programming are necessarily the most probable subjects. I know just as many geeks into fantasy novels as I do that are into computers.
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I'm published, but I sincerely doubt that I'm at the top of any hierarchy. Not even in my own home.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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hehehe, I remember that list. It wasn't where I learned what a furry was, but they were near the same time.
quote:Originally posted by martha: Oh, um, hmmm. I don't usually think of geeks as defined by their SF fan status. In my mind, geeks are people who know a lot about a particular subject because they're obsessed with it to some degree, and that's more likely to be computers and programming than any one other topic.
I usually equate that with "nerd" status.
quote:But trust me, I'm waaaaaaaay higher up on the list than they are, darn it!
I'd put myself at the video gaming/anime-fan level, as I've only played D&D a few times, and only read a couple books based on a sci-fi tv/film series.
Posts: 2489 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I just came back from a party at an old friends house.
The have a Ren-Faire business.
Their wedding was in costume--3 Musketeers. (I was a groomsman).
She is a practicing Wiccan.
They have more weapons in their house than I have books. Ok, maybe not that many, but close.
The just painted their basement in a Harry Potter theme, with all the stores from Diagon Alley as you go down the steps, and Hogwarts in detail on the back wall.
One table of the home was filled with WarMachine hand painted miniatures.
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Geeks know a lot about specific subjects. Nerds are very intellectual, often at the expense of their social skills. As with CS and SF, there's a lot of overlap: I know art geeks who are socially with-it, I know science geeks who are somewhat nerdy in that it's a lot easier for them to socialize with other science geeks than with "normal" people, and I know nerds who spend a lot of time and energy on intellectual pursuits but... this is hard to explain... they do it not for the pleasure of knowing a lot about a certain topic (as a geek would) but for the *process of learning* the information -- possibly because it's an excuse not to engage in much social activity.
Now that I think of it, it seems like nerds are predominantly a high school phenomenon -- if they're lucky when they go to college or beyond, they find a lot of like-minded people and become geeks with nerdy tendencies. A LOT of my friends were nerds in high school and are now geeks.
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I saw Napoleon Dynamite because a coworker had told me, "It's about geeks, you'll love it." It turned out it was not about geeks, and I hated it. It wasn't even about nerds! Napoleon Dynamite has no interest in learning anything! I'd classify him as a dork (lacks social skills and isn't particularly smart) or a dweeb (lacks social skills but isn't smart enough to know it, so appears skeevy when trying to be friendly).
quote:Originally posted by Lisa: I'm published, but I sincerely doubt that I'm at the top of any hierarchy. Not even in my own home.
The hierarchy is ranked from people who consider themselves least geeky at the top to the ones who can't possibly believe that anyone is geekier than themselves at the bottom.
However, I suppose someone should place themselves on the chart at the bottommost applicable level.
Since this is about self perception, it seems, I'm not sure whether you were disclaiming uber geek status, or the status of one who believes that all those other categories are bigger geeks.
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quote:Originally posted by martha: I saw Napoleon Dynamite because a coworker had told me, "It's about geeks, you'll love it." It turned out it was not about geeks, and I hated it. It wasn't even about nerds! Napoleon Dynamite has no interest in learning anything! I'd classify him as a dork (lacks social skills and isn't particularly smart) or a dweeb (lacks social skills but isn't smart enough to know it, so appears skeevy when trying to be friendly).
I must be a geek, but not in the area of knowing what all these cliques mean!