Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] etymology of 'geek', 'nerd', etc.

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Mike Miller wrote:

> On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, rwd7ec wrote:
> 
> > NO, No, no! I had a discussion about this with a co-worker the
> > otherday. We are not nerds. GEEKS is more like it...computer geeks to
> > be exact. We came up with the conclusion that Nerds are Geeks without
> > the intellectual bonus (For all you math geeks, NERD= GEEK - INT ie
> > other engineering majors) We also came to the conclusion that Dorks
> > are just more socially inept nerds (again, DORK= pr0n(Nerd - BOOTY) ).
> 
> I was just remembering another thing from my early years in engineering
> school (at WPI in Worcester, MA).  Of course there were many 'geeks'
> around, but we didn't call them that.  We called them "gweeps."  Now this
> is going back 25 years, but apparently the term is still in use:
> 
> http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/gweep.html

Hmm.  There were (and are) actually a lot of terms that cover the broad
spectrum of geekiness in various ways.  "gweep" is news to me as a term
for a person.  Where I grew up in eastern Massachusetts, "gweep" was
the sound you would sometimes use in the sense that people now use
use the phrase "Bzzzt! Thank you for playing".  And that fits in with
the "alarm beep sound" that Mike cites.  It's not that far a stretch 
to extend this to a person who in a variety of contexts.

Interestingly, many of these words were similar to each other in that they
had a long "ee" sound in them.  This is possibly somebody's idea of sound
symbolism given that geeks are/were presumed to have high-pitched or whiny
voices.  Or that there is something repulsive or rodent-like about them
("eek!" "eeeuw").  So we have:

geek   -- what we're discussing

gleek  -- basically "yuck" or "rats" or something like that, only with a
          long e in it

phrene -- (pejorative) a brainiac

pheeb  -- (also "feeb"; pejorative)  emphasizes whininess, I think.

dweeb  -- emphasizes (I think) the lack of a life.
 
> The word 'geek' is in the dictionary.  It's a carnival performer who
> bites the heads off of chickens for money.  This generalized to
> Definition 2: "any strange or eccentric person."  How 'geek' came to
> refer specifically to computer enthusiasts is a little mysterious (I
> know we're strange and eccentric), but I wonder if there is any
> connection with the term 'gweep.' 'Geek' and 'gweep' were both
> definitely pejorative, so maybe there is a connection.

But that's just the point; geek is not really pejorative any more, since
it's the term used inside the Community.  It has become a "pride" term, if
you will.  When I hear it, "nerd" is more pejorative, especially when used
by a non-geek in the phrase "computer nerd".  Same thing with the related
adjectives, even inside the Community, "that's pretty nerdy" could
basically never be positive, while "that's pretty geeky" just might be.

> 'Nerd' is also in the dictionary.  According to my dictionary, the term
> 'nerd' was first used in the early 1960s.  Definition 2 is "a person
> dedicated to a nonsocial pursuit: a computer nerd."  It seems like 'nerd'
> has fallen out of fashion somewhat and 'geek' is taking its place.

I think it is more the case that "nerd" is the term used more often by the
kind of lusrs who think "debugging" is what happens when you call the
exterminator, while "geek" is the term used by people who have religious
crusades over which is the One True Debugger.

jking

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